


An Accidental Miracle

by Leonawriter



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: F/M, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-26
Updated: 2014-12-05
Packaged: 2017-12-24 01:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/933379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kiryu had run from the group and the city almost as soon as he'd been revived, but when they find out that there might have been more between him and Carly while the two were Dark Signers it's decided that they can't just let him be. Not when Carly is expecting, and without her memories of that period, she has no idea who the father is...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The end of the Signer war brought with it a sense of peace - and also a feeling of having come to the end of one age and out into the birth of another.  Things were new, were going to be different from now on, and who could blame anyone for looking around with new eyes?

The work on the bridge started almost immediately, and it turned out that Director Godwin had specified for it to be so before his death, meaning that no one could countermand the order, one which included that Satellite itself was to be fully refurbished.

It would, however, take time.  And in that time, people like Yuusei, like Crow and the others like them, would have nowhere to stay while the work was going on.  It was collateral damage that they were more than willing to put up with however, since in exchange, it was building a brighter, better future every step of the way.

When it came to personal issues, things weren't so clear cut.

Jack found himself staying in the penthouse for only until he could find somewhere else to stay, or at least that was what Mikage told him, which was insult added to injury after Carly's loss of memory, and the way she'd started acting strangely around him.  Compared to normal.  Although whatever 'normal' was given that they'd only known each other for such a short time, he was starting to wonder.

She didn't fawn all over him like she used to.  Oh, she did, but not quite so... much.  As though something had happened.

It shouldn't have hurt him, but it did.

She seemed happy enough, though, so he didn't push, and ignored anyone who said that there might be something wrong with _him_.

Yuusei and Crow were recommended to someone Martha knew, who lived in Neo Domino and might let them live with her for at least a while, so he did have that option at least - and was forced to take it some time later, creating a bad tempered Jack from the fact that there was nowhere more upmarket that would take the former King of riding duels.

Crow was less than happy about the situation either, seen as Jack wouldn't pay his way, but Yuusei just smiled, happy to see his two friends and brothers back together again.

All in all, things had begun to settle down, and into a routine of sorts, day by day dealings becoming ones they were used to as opposed to ones where they continually had to remind themselves that _this was normal now_ , and that they weren't going to be told that they weren't welcome, to go back to where they came from... regardless that many still seemed to want to think that way.  The masses were being swayed.  Satellites were being accepted.

It was a slow road, but it was one they were taking.  Eventually, they'd get there.  And there would be no separation any more, and a marker would just be another form of tattoo, something the future generation would only hear about in history books, and stories from their grandparents.

And then, they began to notice Carly's strange behaviour on a more regular basis, and it definitely _was_ strange this time.

The first time it was clearly apparent was when she'd suddenly rushed inside, and suddenly started throwing up.  At first they'd thought it was food poisoning - it was possible - but nothing came up as having possibly caused such a reaction, and the nausea faded away soon enough, leaving her feeling just fine only a short time afterwards.

They put it to the back of their minds, worried but generally sure that everything was all right, that things would work out.

Only to be caught out when it happened again, and the next day.

It was when she started to visibly enjoy something Jack later assured Yuusei that she'd _never_ liked before, she'd _even said_ that she hated the food, that Yuusei, and then Crow when he was told, began to have their suspicions.

Jack, of course, was in denial.  How could he not be?  Nothing was wrong. _Nothing._   She was just unwell for a while, and she'd be fine in a few weeks.  That was all.

Yuusei watched him slam the door to the garage yet again, and sighed, noting that Aki looked just as worried as he felt.

"He knows there's something wrong," he said, once the echoes had dissipated.  Crow was out on a delivery and wouldn't be back for at least another hour.  Aki herself had yet to hear back from the Duel Academy, even though he was sure that she was going to be let in with flying colours at the top of her grade.  He just believed it of her.  "I'm sure.  He just won't admit it."

She nodded back at him nervously.

"But when Carly herself doesn't seem to know what's wrong, or remember anything much from back then... Jack's _sure_ that nothing happened between them, or right before... then how can we know what happened to her during _that_ time?  How do we even know it really is... ah...  I mean..."

She trailed off, blushing slightly and looking away.  Yuusei fixed her with a sympathetic yet matter-of-fact, apologetic look.

"It is," he sighed.  "That or... I don't know what else it could be.  Crow and I - and Jack - we know the signs.  Martha told us what to look out for if we ever found someone in trouble like that.  In Satellite..." he trailed off for a moment, caught up in the memory, and Aki was left remembering just how different life used to be for them, how that would have been something that could have happened, all the time...  "We saw it happen.  Only two times.  Maybe three... I can't speak for Crow, but I don't think there's anything else it _could_ be."

"And she doesn't even _realise_ ," she said, fists clenching - half in anger, half in horror.

Yuusei shook his head.

"Probably not."

"Don't you think you should _tell_ her?  Yuusei!  She has a right to know!"

"You think we haven't thought of that?"  He leaned back against the wall, one hand tapping frustratedly against the wrench in his other.  "And what would we say?  She'd panic.  The last thing any of us want is to have her scared and making things worse for herself."

"Then what _do_ we do.  _Tell me_ , Yuusei.  Please."

The tapping slowed.

"We figure out what happened before she has a chance to start assuming the worst.  She's a reporter... and a good one.  She she'd try to investigate into the matter herself, and get worked up, stressed...  The reason she's in this state might be the reason why she lost her memories of that time, and rediscovering it herself would do more harm than good."

Aki found herself nodding slowly.  She could understand the need for caution when there were triggers of _that_ sort involved; her duel against Misty had left her with the inescapable knowledge that, should she hear those words again...

That was it.

"Misty."

"Ah?"

"Misty, Yuusei!  Carly knew Misty when she was with the Dark Signers, and they're still in touch!  Maybe-"

"She knows something?"

"Mm!"

Yuusei smiled, and watched as Aki quickly took out her mobile, scrolling down her - admittedly short - list of contacts before finding the woman's name, hesitating her finger above the 'call' button before closing her eyes and going for it, before she could lose her determination.

Then, the phone was ringing.  Too late to back out now.

"Ah- Misty-san.  I'm doing well.  ...  Actually, Yuusei and I were wondering if we could meet with you... ah.  That's fine.  No, no... everything's fine.  Thank you."

Yuusei sent her a questioning look as soon as she took the phone away from her ear and cut off the call.

"She's got enough time in between meetings to have us over next week.  Not much, but it should be enough to talk things over, right?"

Yuusei gave her a nod, only hoping that it would be.

Another week of uncertainty, then.  And they wouldn't even know if Misty herself knew anything useful until they talked.

All they could do was to continue acting normally, and as though nothing was wrong.  And hope, above all, that somehow - one way or another - this wouldn't turn out for the worst.

...

The week passed fitfully.  Jack had gone from sheer, outright denial and through into an odd - and rather frightening at times - mixture of anger and depressive acceptance.

It'd been when he'd finally brought the matter up, and asked when they should say something to _Carly_ , that Yuusei explained his own reasoning... and that he and Aki were going to try and get some answers themselves.

Jack had then gone uncharacteristically quiet.

"Whoever he was," he said almost under his breath, fist clenched tight, "when we find out, I'm going to _kill_ him."

Yuusei and Crow were used to threats being flung - and they couldn't help but feel the same way - but it was the blunt, expectant way that Jack said it that put them on edge.  And right now, not knowing anything, they weren't sure if they'd end up able to _stop_ him from doing something they all regretted.

Overall, he and Aki arrived at Misty's apartment building in a nervous state of mind.  They told the receptionist their names, and the woman told them that Misty was waiting for them, allowing them to pass and giving them the directions to her room.

Aki was the one who knocked once they arrived, Yuusei hanging back, leaning against the opposite wall until the door opened and they were told to come in.

He caught her frowning slightly right before telling them to sit, but the next moment there was a smile back on her face, and she was turning away, walking with flowing movements into a side room.  A few moments later she came back with tea.

"You're here about Carly, aren't you."

It wasn't even a question.  She simply 'knew'.

"How...?"

"Perhaps I should have mentioned that I can read faces the way that our Carly can cards; some of the clarity is gone," she said, placing loose strand of hair back into place, "but overall, it remains.  Not that I should have to.  Yet you came to me for answers, so I can only assume that you require information of a time in her life very few are privy to."

Aki looked away slightly, down at her tea as it cooled enough to drink, as Yuusei nodded, somewhat relieved that he didn't have to explain that much.

"We were wondering if you could help us figure out if there was anyone she could have been... close to, during that time."

Misty sighed, picking up her own teacup as she pondered the matter, eyes closed as she remembered.

"I have to admit that I still had many of my own duties to attend to, back then.  I was one of the few with a job, who the outside world would not see as the walking dead if I went into public.  Therefore, I was not able to be with her as much as would help you right now."

"If there's anything you know, Misty-san.  Anything at all," Aki pleaded, causing Misty's eyes to narrow.

"This is more than just worry over changed feelings.  Is it not?"  She took another sip, mulling the thought over and watching their faces, before putting her cup down still half full.  "What time I did have to spare, I did spend with Carly.  When she was available to spend it with, after the first day of her staying with us."

"Ah... what do you mean by that?   'Available'...?"

"Exactly as it sounds.  For several hours a day, she would be gone.  Perhaps Rudger would have known where to if he had come back with the rest of us, but as it is..."

"Rudger?" Yuusei asked, taken aback. 

"She approached him for a favour.  I believe that at first it was declined, but later taken up.  Given what I know of her now, I have my suspicions as to what it was."

"Which are?"

"Carly does not drive a motorbike.  Or, in fact, a D-Wheel.  Not to my knowledge before she came to us, and not to my knowledge _after_.  The only answer could be that makes sense, is that she was taught during that time, and has forgotten what she learned.  And with that in mind, if you would forgive my saying so, there was only _one_ person qualified to do so.  Only one person in all of the Dark Signers who had been with us long enough, had the motivation, and the means to teach.  And he is not in such a position currently to be questioned on the matter."

Aki blinked, not really knowing who Misty was referring to, but Yuusei-

Clenched his fist tightly enough that it hurt in an effort not to break something that belonged to their host, eyes shut but unable to keep back the memories.  The understanding of what Misty had been trying to tell them.

"Yuusei... you know who it is that I mean."

 _Kiryu_.

He nodded, finding himself unable to speak the words that would make it real, make it more than a mere 'suspicion'.

 _How?_   How could Kiryu have... the answer, of course, was obvious.  Carly liked Jack, and Kiryu had hated all of them, all of the ones who'd been in his old team...  Who he'd been convinced had betrayed him.

But still.  To go _this_ far?

"Yuusei..."  Breathe.  He couldn't think clearly if he was only focusing on the past.  He had to think about the present, and the future.  Or they wouldn't be able to help Carly.  "Misty-san," Aki was saying, "I'm sorry, but... who _was_ it...?"

Misty glanced over at Yuusei, now staring woodenly at his tea, which was going cold, and sighed.

"Kiryu Kyousuke was the Dark Signer of the Giant," she said carefully.  "My opinions of him at the time were that he was an ambitious yet impatient and impulsive young man with a blatant disregard for authority figures."  Yuusei fought to bite back a snort, and failed, the sound coming out as almost a laugh - it was certainly an apt description of Kiryu. 

Misty looked at him again, but he nodded at her to continue.

"We... none of us tended to get along all of the time.  Our group was formed not by bonds, but by shared goals, and not all of them met eye to eye.  Kiryu-san often rankled at having to answer to Rudger-san especially.  But... in the time before Director Godwin gathering you all together, things were far more relaxed.  If you could call such an existence so."

"Ah-?"

He'd never thought of it.  That time... a limbo, as it were, a stasis of what must have been between dying and having their plans come to fruition - or so they hoped.

"The Earthbound," Misty carried on, "controlled our thoughts and emotions and leaned them towards revenge.  But as I am sure you are aware, not even the least sane mind can think of one thing so constantly.  Thus, we created, despite ourselves, safe areas.  For me, it was my work.  For Kiryu-san himself, I believe it was racing, and D-Wheels... although I fear that once she arrived, Carly as well."

"Misty-san... that..."

"Doesn't sound healthy," Yuusei said, finishing Aki's train of thought and speaking properly for the first time since a potential truth had been outed.

"We weren't healthy people," Misty said bluntly.  "And I have told you all that I know.  Now, perhaps you might tell me something in return.  Why the sudden interest in Carly's time as a Dark Signer?  Surely any pain caused would heal in time, if left be."

Yuusei and Aki shared a look, and in the end it was Aki who spoke.

"That isn't possible, no matter how much we wish it could be.  Carly... she's been having morning sickness.  And odd cravings.  It's not been long, but..."

Just over a month, in fact.  Long enough.

Misty carefully put her cup down, and for the first time, Yuusei thought he saw something other than the pristine self-composure that they'd become used to from her.

"You haven't told her."

Her voice was steady, but distant, as though she was dealing with the news in her own way and would allow her true reactions out later, once they were gone.

"Ah-"

"You should.  Soon."

"Ah- aa...  We will.  We just needed-"

"I understand," she said, standing, and they took that as their cue that it was time to leave.  "But she also needs to know."

He didn't bother arguing against that when he knew it well enough himself.

...

"Ah-  _KIRYU?!"_

"Jack, keep your voice down!"

"Hn!  It's hardly as though anyone's around to hear - and I don't care!"

Crow buried his face in his hand, shaking his head. 

"Ah, Jack..."

It was a few days after Yuusei and Aki's meeting with Misty, and he, Jack and Crow were in the garage.  Thankfully, it was the middle of the day and there weren't many people, but this still wasn't something he felt should be shouted about so that anyone passing by could hear them.

"Yuusei. You're _sure_?"

He shook his head.

"We won't know for certain until we either have proof somehow, or if we could talk to him."  That bearing in mind how unlikely it was that Carly _herself_ would regain the relevant memories - that said, none of them were entirely sure if that would even be healthy.  "But it's possible."

_"Rgh-!"_

Jack's fist hit the wall, making the other two flinch, but his tears weren't from the self-induced pain, but the helplessness, the-

"That's not gonna help anything, Jack," Crow said from across the room.  "Just give you a sore fist."

"Then what _will?"_

Crow sighed.  "Dunno.  But we gotta figure it out - and _quick_.  But... if it _was_ Kiryu, then how're we gonna _reach_ him?"

"What?  To _kill_ him, you mean?  Because that's all I feel like I'd want to do with him-"

"He was a Dark Signer," Yuusei said, cutting between the budding argument before they'd end up with raised voices and coming to blows.  "Jack... you saw what it was like, how different they were from when they were normal.  Kiryu... Carly... Godwin... all of them.  Would you place any of them fully responsible for what they did while they were under the Earthbound's influence?"

"You're saying that she might have..." Jack began with a low, threatening growl.

"I'm not saying anything.  But if she had, then what would you do?"

Jack stared at Yuusei for a long moment, but then looked away.

"I still want him dead for this.  Whoever it was."

Yuusei sighed, supposing that that was the best they were going to get, when the door leading out to the street began to open.  At first he thought it was Zora, having come back and somehow heard them arguing over something strange, but when the familiar head poked her way in, he realised that it was worse than that.  And yet at the same time, better.

"Ah... is this a good time?  I could come back later..."

"C- _Carly!_ "

"No," Yuusei said with a shake of his head, causing Jack and Crow to stare at him in thinly disguised disbelief.  "We were talking about an old friend," he began.

"Eh?  Really?  It sounds like you had a big falling out."  She came fully in through the door and closed it behind her, and came down the steps.  She was dressed differently to what they usually saw her in, looser, although they didn't think she looked any different.  Yet.  It might just have been a coincidence, but they were starting to lose faith in coincidences.

"Mn.  You could say that.  What brings you here?"

"Ahaha, I was just passing through - biiiig scoop, but I got there and wrote it all up, so all I need to do now is get back and check it over before I send it off!  Hee~"

"Ah, that's good."

And it was good, seeing her enjoy what she did for a living, even if she was rushed off her feet by stories and scoops - or the need of - most of the time.

"So... who was it?  That friend?"  She must have noticed Jack's expression darken, because she backed away, laughing and waving her hands in surrender. "Ah, never mind, never mind!"

"Name's Kiryu," Crow put in, catching what Yuusei's game was, and not looking over at any of them to see a reaction to the name.  "Haven't seen him since last month."

"Eh?  Who?  Ah... you think I should _know_ this person?"

With the timing the way it was, it wasn't that much of a leap for anyone's intuition.  But her reaction... there went one idea.  No reaction at all to his name, and although Yuusei and Crow were relieved that it likely wasn't related to something _traumatic_ in her locked away memories, the very idea of what other things it could mean made Jack grind his teeth.

"Well, Misty said the two of you knew each other back then," Yuusei explained.

"Ahaha, well, I don't see how I'd be able to help finding him now, whoever he is!  I don't remember enough to know what someone with that name _looked_ like!" She said, laughing.

"Ah, Carly..." Jack said, one of the first things he'd said since she'd come in.  "That... wasn't all."

It was also the most downcast and serious they'd seen him for a while.  The anger was still there, sure - but it wasn't the most important thing right now.

"Eh?  What then?"

"Have you been feeling 'off' recently?" 

The question was put forward at high speed, Jack's expression more like that of a child not wanting to know the answer but knowing he had to _ask_ ,whether he liked it or not, even though he knew it was going to hurt afterwards either way.

He wasn't far wrong, either.

"Ah, I- what sort of question's that?  I'm fine!  And I, I've been fine-"

"Carly..."

"Jack, _I'm fine!"_

She stepped away from him and Jack recoiled as though struck, at which she stopped, breathing heavily.

"I'm _fine_ , I've just caught a bug, probably in the food, haha, I should be more careful!  I'm fine.  I just.  I just..."

"Carly, it's _okay_."

"But I _hate eel!"_ she shouted out, tears now falling from her eyes as she allowed Jack to pull her into a tight hold, making the rest of her words muffled through his chest.  "And last week I... but...  _What's wrong with_ _me_?"

The last was said so quietly that only Jack was able to hear her at all, but both of the others could see that he was fighting to keep himself under control, to not break down himself, not for pride, but for Carly herself, who needed him to be strong right now.

"It's gonna be okay, yeah?" Crow said awkwardly, hoping to comfort and reassure her that it wasn't just Jack on her side.  "Nothing's- it might be nothing's _wrong_ , it's just-"

"How can nothing be _wrong_? I-"  A look of slowly dawning horror came across her, and she let go of Jack, instead holding herself with her arms.  "You were talking about that person and that time I _can't remember_ \- no.  That _can't_ be what you're thinking," she reiterated, shaking her head.  "You, you don't know!"

" _If_ it was true," Yuusei said slowly, carefully, "then it'd be up to you what you did next." 

Emphasise the 'if', make it hypothetical, and numb the pain with theory and the allowance of temporary denial instead of cold, hard facts.

"Eh?  Wh- what do you..."

"You don't remember.  You wouldn't owe anyone anything, and you wouldn't even if you could.  It'd be _your choice_."

Her eyes widened behind her glasses as she realised what he meant, and she shook here head wildly.

"I _don't know!_   I don't _know_ what I want!"

"Carly-!"

She was running for the door, and as soon as he realised that it would be a bad idea for Jack to go after her, Yuusei and Crow had to hold him back from doing that very thing.

"Let her go," Crow said in a rare instance of sounding entirely serious, completely and utterly sincere.  "She needs time, yea?  Something like that..."

Really, who could blame her for running?

...

Carly didn't remember running home, let alone catching the bus because she knew that she was far too worked up to drive right now.

All she knew for certain, as she lay curled up in her bed with the covers drawn around her and her Jack bear in her arms, was that she was lost, confused, and she'd hurt her friends by running away from them - run away from _Jack_.

Who'd only been trying to help.

She sniffed again, and continued to sob, not quite having dried up all of her tears.

She'd _noticed_ it, how could she say she hadn't _noticed_ it, you can't not notice being sick and... all the rest.  

But putting it all together had taken longer.  She didn't remember.  _Any_ of it, from going to sleep that one night with Jack having taken over her own room for the night (sometimes, she liked remembering it, and it was almost as though there was someone else in the room with her, keeping her company) to waking up well over a week later, confused and not understanding why it was suddenly morning, or how she'd moved across town, or why Jack was reacting to her as though she'd _died_ or something.

She'd had no reason to think something might be up.  She still liked Jack (didn't she?) and Jack hadn't said anything, wasn't acting odd in some weird way around her, so _nothing_ could have happened. 

Because she wouldn't have cheated on Jack.

Except, apparently, something _had_ happened.  She _had_ gone behind Jack's back, and she _couldn't even remember-_

She didn't even know whose it was.

The realisation, coming into her head with clarity this time rather than in a mix of overwrought emotions, caused her to break down in tears yet again.  What kind of person _was_ she back then, to do such a thing?

 _Kiryu_ , she remembered Yuusei say.  _Haven't seen him since last month._

Just a little over that, really, but hey - who was counting?  But if that was it...

She threw herself out of bed, hair messed up and glasses askew but she didn't care, skidding into her living room and turning the computer on, making sure to turn the video phone _off_ \- she didn't want to be disturbed, and especially not by her editor right now while she was dressed like this - while she pulled up a search.

Kiryu... Kiryu...  there were a surprising amount of them.  None of whom she felt like she should know.  She stuck her tongue in her cheek, adding in the parameter that he was 'from Satellite' - an assumption based on the idea that he was an _old_ friend of Yuusei and the others.  If they'd all known him, then that would've been back then, when they were all...

Results!  And... she swallowed.  The first article was on the Security database, for an angry looking young man with a marker running all the way down the right side of his face.  She clicked on that one first, bringing it into a new window.

 _Kiryu Kyousuke_ , the public part of the file read.  _Markered for assault on a Security patrolman.  Deceased during incarceration._

And... that was it.  Pretty much the entire file.  If she'd been looking for a story, then she'd have been incredibly disappointed, putting it down as an open and closed case, or acting on a gut feeling - the same one she was having right now - that this was hardly the entire story.

She shut the search down, and then the computer, for some reason not wanting to look any further, or at the angry, accusing face of someone who was _supposed_ to be long dead.

She made her way back into her room and flopped listlessly onto her bed.  She... she still didn't know what to _do_.

One of her hands had found its way to her deck case, sitting on her bedside table, and she smiled - of course!  The fairies would tell her!  Hah~ !  That couldn't go wrong...

 _Apart from that one time when they predicted you were going to die,_ a worried voice said in the back of her mind, but she paid it no heed.  Out came the cards, and fanned out in front of her face-down in one hand, while the other hovered above them.

"And today the fortune is - draw!"

She picked the card third on the left.  Took it out.

_"Super pinch?!"_

She let herself drop back onto the pillows.

_You may gain an edge over the competition.  Cheer up!_

But... how was she supposed to cheer up when this person was supposedly such big trouble?  That fortune only made everything _worse_...

...

It was Duel Time in Crashtown, and Kiryu Kyousuke was in big trouble.

Or at least, he would be if he didn't win the duel.  Anyone who lost was immediately sent to the mines and collared, and out of the two groups attempting to control the small mining town, Ramon's was the lesser of the two evils.

Ah, there it was.  A weakness.  One face-down next, and he'd exploited it easily, and the opponent was taken away by horse and cart to his doom.

Kiryu himself merely turned his back on the town, and headed back to where he'd parked his bike before riding it out to the cliffs.

It wasn't a Harley, like the rest of Ramon's group rode.  They'd offered him one, at first, just to fit in.  But he'd refused, despite the odd looks it gained.

The Giganto-L was, after all, a D-Wheel in a town full of people who'd probably only heard of them, or seen them on TV at best.  That, and its odd design contrasted strangely with his presence as he made it known there, and the way he dressed.

It was the one thing he'd bothered to keep from that dark period in his life, the only thing he'd _wanted_ to keep, other than a few select memories.

The rest could go to hell.

He remembered duelling Yuusei, accusing him of betrayal, the _souls,_ so many _people_ , all _dead,_ just because of his own damn vendetta-

He wished he could forget it.  Just be left with a confusion, as though he'd never done any of it.  But even then, he wouldn't be _innocent_.

But he also remembered teaching her, and correcting her, and duelling her and getting frustrated and proud and calm - for the first time since he'd become a Dark Signer, he'd actually been _happy_ , been _calm_ \- and his hands on her back, steadying her, hands on her-

He cut the memories off with a choke, torn between wanting to forget because then it wouldn't _hurt_ so damn much, and keeping a hold on them like precious gems, because the last he'd heard of Carly before hitting the road knowing that should Jack find out he'd be dead three times over, was that she'd forgotten.  Everything.

And if he forgot as well, then who would be left to know that anything good had come out of that time at all?  No one would know.  It'd just get lost, something that didn't matter any more... and he didn't want it to not matter.

He wasn't sure if that made him a bad person or not, but weighing up his crimes against the good things he'd taken, stolen, didn't balance out in his head.

"Ah-!  Kiryu-niichan!"

He sighed.  West, again.

"How many times do I have to tell you - I'm not someone you should get involved with, kid."

"But, Kiryu-niichan, you had that _look_ on your face again."

Kiryu sighed, and turned to look at the young boy.

"What look."

"The.  The one like tou-san wore sometimes."  His confusion must have shown, because West carried on.  "When he'd think about kaa-san!"

"...Ah."

Nico and West's mother had died long before they'd arrived here.  And their father had been sent to the mines the day he'd arrived.  The man's kids had offered Kiryu to stay with them instead, but he'd refused, only allowing them to give them some of their father's old clothes, but he still came to visit every so often.

"So.... there's a girl you like?  Is she... is she _dead_?"

He jerked involuntarily, but then got himself under control again, attempting to disguise the movement with a shrug.

"She might as well be.  To me."

"Hah... that's bad..."

Kiryu sighed, fingering his harmonica.

"It's getting dark.  You should be getting back to your sister."

West nodded reluctantly.

"Ah, right.  You'll be okay, though?"

Kiryu would have sent an amused, wry smile over the boy's way if he'd had the emotional energy to do so, but instead he merely nodded, and put the harmonica to his lips again, playing a bittersweet melody of regret.

...

AN: And there we have the first - and it might be the longest, I have _no idea_ how long or short the next chapters will be - of this story.

Remember back at the beginning, where Yuusei, Aki and Crow were assuming that Carly may have been _assaulted_?  Yes, if you hadn't caught on back then, that _is_ what they were - and still are - considering as a possibility.  As you can see from the last section with Kiryu, that _was not the case_.  If it were, I'd probably have 'rape' as one of my warnings.  Which I don't.

As to Yuusei being pro-choice?  One of my headcanons is that at least once, he, Jack, Crow, even Kiryu way back before the paranoia kicked in, they all had to help out someone in need because Satellite's a dangerous place for women and girls, especially in the BAD area I'd have to assume, and just because it's never mentioned (to my recollection) in the series, doesn't mean it didn't happen.  Also, Martha drilled it into them - 'Don't do the deed if you're not willing to take responsibility!'.  Satellite being Satellite, it's _far less likely to have protection just readily available._   Cultural context matters.  At least, these are the reasons/backstory I felt like I needed to point out.


	2. Chapter 2

_He'd noticed her arrive - it was pretty damn hard not to, when there was one of Misty's helicopters landing nearby and making a racket.  He'd come out from going over his deck again to see what the fuss was all about, and seen her - black hair, orange markings on the robes, nice legs, but clearly upset - coming out, followed closely behind by Misty herself, and then Demak, who was the only one of the three who actually knew how to pilot the thing._

_Misty spent some time talking with her once they were inside, and stayed with her until she had to excuse herself, pleaing other commitments.  
_

_Lucky woman.  She could lead a double 'life'.  Unlike the rest of them.  
_

_After that, he didn't see her again for hours, well into the next day, and he assumed that she'd locked herself in her room or something stupid like that.  Not that he cared, of course - he didn't know what her vendetta was, but he doubted it had anything to do with_ him _, or was his business._

_That is, until he noticed her walking purposefully through the corridors towards the main meeting area, where he knew that Rudger was hidden away, brooding.   He followed her - partly out of sheer boredom - careful to stay far enough back that he wouldn't be seen or heard, although with her in that kind of mood who knew if she'd notice?  
_

_"Rudger-san!  Rudger-san, I- I want to ask a favour!"  
_

_Rudger looked up from the candlestick's flames.  Apparently - or so he'd been told - each one represented one of their lives.  He wasn't sure whether to believe such superstitious rubbish, but then again, he was the walking dead.  
_

_"Go on."  
_

_The Hummingbird girl blushed, and then steeled herself, blurting out her request.  
_

_"I want to be able to learn how to ride a D-Wheel!  I know, I know there isn't much time left, but... if I could just do that, I could duel him properly!"  
_

_"You are right," Rudger said flatly.  For a moment, her hopes seemed to be raised, but then the man continued.  "We do not have the time."  
_

_"Ahhh-!  But Rudger-san, if I could just- just get good enough for one duel!"  
_

_"One duel is all you will have opportunity for, and all that will be required of you.  And we have no one among us able to give up their time, with the relevant skills.  We are all rushed, Carly Nagisa."  
_

_From his place in the shadows, Kiryu Kyousuke rolled his eyes - annoying, but true.  He was the only one who rode a D-Wheel on their side, and he was busy getting himself ready for his duel against Yuusei - and he knew that even with the fear of Ccapac Apu in his old 'friend', it wouldn't be easy.  
_

_"But-"  
_

_She was just going to keep arguing, then?  Hah.  Then he'd head off, back to practice.  No use wasting time or breath.  
_

_"-it would't be right to not defeat Jack in a riding duel!"  
_

_He was stopped in his tracks.  
_

_Jack?  Jack Atlas?_ That _Jack Atlas?  
_

_Well.  Things had just become a lot more interesting, hadn't they?  He stepped out from the shadows, a smirk playing about on his face at the thought of what he was about to do.  
_

_"Oi, Rudger.  I really hear you say 'no one willing'?"  Rudger's eyes narrowed at his presence, and the implication of his words.  "Because if it's about beating Jack Atlas at his own game... then I'm all for it!"  
_

_"You would take the time out of your own schedule to train her?"  
_

_He shrugged.  
_

_"Beats sitting around all day.  And if it doesn't get her anywhere-"  
_

_"H-hey!  I can learn!"  
_

_"-then we won't have lost anything, will we?" he ended, noting her protests with amusement.  
_

_Rudger fixed him with a level stare.  
_

_"In which case, you had better hope that she is at an acceptable standard by the time we are ready to make our final move.  I leave it in your hands, Kiryu Kyousuke."  
_

_And with that, the man stood, and left the room, leaving the two alone together.  Carly half pouting at the percieved insults, half excited and hopeful due to knowing that she would be getting what she had wanted.  
_

_"Misty's getting you a bike, isn't she?"  
_

_Carly nodded.  
_

_"Ah- mn.  She said it's going to be here in just a couple of days, but-"  
_

_"First lesson, we'll be using mine, then," he said, heading back out and leading her to the garage where he kept his D-Wheel, not even bothering to check if she was following.  "But if you damage it, I kill you, got it?"  
_

_"Got it!"  
_

_Hah!  She might be crazy for wanting to go all out on Jack Atlas and still needing lessons on how to ride, but he'd give her this - the girl had_ guts _.  
_

_"First things first.  One, you gotta learn to focus.  You can ride all you like angry when you've got it down, but before then?  Everything is the bike, and the road.  Nothing else."  
_

_"Right."  
_

_"You don't get it.  Whatever the Hummingbird brought you back for?  Whever I'm teaching you... You FORGET IT."  
_

_"But-"  
_

_"No buts.  Forget it or get out."  
_

_She stayed there as they stood outside the doors, pinning him with a fierce glare.  He wasn't sure whether it was out of defiance or understanding.  
_

_"I'm going to duel Jack.  No matter what.  And it isn't revenge, I love hi-"  
_

_He raised his eyebows at her, the expression cutting her off.  
_

_"Cute."  He opened the door, and brought out the Giganto-L, pushing it by the handlebars.  "And you're damn lucky, you know that?"  
_

_"H-huh?!"  
_

_"Forget it."  
_

...

Carly woke up to a bout of nausea with a now undeniable cause, and later found that she had several missed calls.

 _"Carly?  Are you all right? You left so fast yesterday, you worried m- us..."_   Jack.  She probably _should_ make sure they knew she was all right if he was the one calling.

 _"OI, CARLY!  WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?  SOMETHING BIG WAS HAPPENING OVER IN SATELLITE JUST AN HOUR AGO AND..."_ Her editor.

_"Dear potential customer of-!"_

_"Ah, Carly~  You said we'd meet up this week-"  
_

_"CARLY IF YOU DON'T PICK THE DAMN PHONE UP-"_ Her editor again.

What with everything that was going on, she couldn't, for once, bring herself to care just yet. She'd moved her cards onto her bedside table last night before rolling over and going to sleep, but to be honest, she felt like a mess.

A fact that hadn't changed half an hour later, coming out of the shower.

It wasn't just the morning sickness, though.  Of course, knowing it was _that_ didn't make it any better, but weirdly enough it numbed the terror of _not_ knowing as well, so they sort of cancelled each other out. 

It was knowing how it could have happend at all.

Jack... how could she have done that?  Such a short amount of time, just a _week_ or more gone from her life, and she couldn't have forgotten changing so much, could she?

Apparently so.  No matter how strange it seemed.

It wasn't as though she hadn't tried asking Jack what she'd been like - reporter's interest, after all, and if she could get a first hand scoop...  well, that'd be all the more for her, then - and he'd told her that she'd acted different, almost like a different person.  At the time she'd brushed it off with a shiver and a few jokes about how scary she must've been to take the sting away, but now...  now...

She finished getting dressed, checked over her emails and messages again, and headed out of the door.

...

Ushio sighed, chin resting in his hand as he gave thought to Yuusei's request.

They hadn't lost contact, after the events of the Signer War.  If anything, the fact that so few people truly knew and understood what had happened during those weeks had brought the man closer to the group, along with his new partner - he'd apparently been promoted in the new order of things when it had become clear that Rex Godwin, the old Director, was both no longer around and that most departments would need some fine tuning in any case.  In light of how he'd handled events during mass panic and in the time afterwards, Ushio had been the clear choice.

Right now however, Yuusei was asking for a rather hefty favour.

"You want me to track that person down, huh?  D'you have any idea how difficult that'd be?"

"I know that he vanished without any word to us as to where he'd be going.  And that his D-Wheel was never found.  There must be some way."

Ushio shook his head.

"Sure, it can't be easy hiding something like _that_ ," he said, remembering what he'd seen, "but even then.  He could be _anywhere_.  And a search would just stretch what resources we've got after everything back then.  You know that."

"Aa.  I do.  And if it wasn't that important, I wouldn't be asking."

"Yeah, yeah, I know that... you know, you could just wait for a while.  He's probably gonna come back at some point, or send a message along somehow..."

He trailed off as Yuusei shook his head.

"He didn't say anything to any of us, and you didn't _see_ him back then... if he was going to send word by now, he would have.  And we don't have time for him to decide.  There's a more important matter that can't wait."

"More important... oi, oi, what're you talking about-?"

Yuusei sighed, and leaned back against the wall of the Security building, eyes closed against the sunlight.

"It's not my place to say, for now.  Even if this wasn't going on... I'd still want to find him.  This just makes it more..."

"Hn.  Well, I'll see what I can do.  Just don't get your hopes up, got it?"

Yuusei nodded, letting out a breath he hadn't realised that he was holding in.

"That's all I ask.  Thank you."

"Ha... I'd ask what you've gotten yourself mixed up in this time, but since you said it's not any of your business to say I don't think I'd get any answers."

"I can say that it isn't exactly a matter of being 'mixed up in' anything," he said with half a smile.  "If anything," he shook his head. "I'll let you know as soon as I can tell you any more."

"Ah- yeah.  That'd be useful if you could," Ushio muttered as Yuusei left, wondering how he was going to find a man twice dead, likely locked out of the Security database for that very reason, and...

Well, it'd be nothing if not a _challenge_.

...

She found herself counting the days.

She'd bought a paper calendar - usually she was fine with using the one on her computer, but... she stuck her tongue in her cheek as she leafed through the months to find 'That Week', as she'd begun to call it in her mind.  The week she hadn't ever been able to remember, for one reason or another.

It hit hard like a punch to the gut that it had already been well over a month.  Nearly a month and a half.

She hadn't made any vocal descision yet, to the others.  She'd skirted the topic, tried to get to easier subjects, things that she could deal with.  But then she'd started to see babies everywhere, mothers with their children and music box songs played wherever her ear could catch them.  Her hand would find her stomach, and she'd hurry away from wherever it was, breath quickening.

Yuusei, Crow, even _Jack_ \- they were fine with the idea that she'd just... just get _rid_ of it, just because she didn't know where it had come from.  Because maybe she wasn't ready yet.  Because why should she... why...

A month and a half, and she still evaded their eyes.  Laughed it off.

But when she was at home, she'd take out the calendar, and black out another day.

Time was running out for her to make any decision other than one - and in the end, she started wondering.  What if she didn't _want_ to?  What if she didn't want to care, what had happened?  Who the father was?

It wasn't its fault, after all.  And if she couldn't remember, then it wasn't hers either, really, even though that one sounded false even when she said it alone, in her room.  Something about this all whispered _it IS your fault_ whenever she wanted to find somewhere to put the blame.  Whenever she guiltily wondered, hurting, why she didn't feel like something was being taken from her when Jack looked at someone else, even when she knew he wasn't interested.

It had somehow moved from 'how' she could have done such a thing, to 'when'.  

'When' had she fallen _out_ of love?

She still loved him.  How could she not?  He was _Jack_.  But she wasn't _in_ love with him, the way she had been, and it had taken her so long to realise.  Because she hadn't wanted to face up to it, to think that she could have somehow moved on from what she'd thought was so solid.

They had started to talk amongst themselves, every so often.  Perhaps they knew that she'd noticed.  But despite being a reporter, and a _good_ one - she was doing just fine even now once she'd got back into things! - she hesitated to ask, at first.

What if they were talking about her?

The thought was enough to keep her fidgeting around the question for another week blacked out on the calendar.  It was the calendar that made her ask.

They'd looked at her almost guiltily, at first.  Then Jack had glared at the other two-

"You never _told_ her?!"

Of course they hadn't, Crow would put in.  And Jack hadn't either.

Yuusei was the one to explain in just one sentence-

"We're trying to find Kiryu."

Jack and Crow went silent, and with that she realised why they'd been so secretive and cautious around her.

"We'd have done it anyway," Crow said awkwardly.  

"And you don't have to have anything to do with him if you don't want to," Jack added darkly, as if threatening the person who wasn't even there, which admittedly made her want to laugh, it was such a _Jack_ thing to do, but-

"Ah- no!"

They stared at her, or it _felt_ like they were staring, which made her blush.  Her hands found her middle again.

"I- I mean... if you're looking for him anyway, I don't mind... I'd like to meet him!  Even if it's just once, I'd like to meet him!"

The silence stretched out awkwardly for a long minute, until Yuusei smiled softly, shaking his head.

"Of course.  We'll tell you how things go from now on."

"Eh?  You're having trouble?"

"Mm, yeah, you _could_ say that," Crow said dryly.  "He only went and vanished into _thin air_.  I mean, we've had a _few_ leads, but..."

"It's been difficult," Yuusei finished.

"Hm... ah, ah, I could help!"

"Aa.  If you want to, feel free.  It's up to you."  Although the smile said that he'd appreciate it, and the fact that she wanted to help at all.

They talked about other things after that, but as she was leaving, Jack caught her hand, sending electric shivers up her arm and as she looked up at him, she realised where he was looking.

"You've... decided, haven't you," he said quietly.  It was so unlike his normal brash, loud tones that it caught her off guard, but at the same time, it only seemed natural.

She looked at him, then away, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

"I, I hadn't really thought about it like that."  He let go, and for some reason she couldn't understand, it hurt.  "I... I think so, though.  You - you don't mind, do you?"

"Hn?!  Why would I-?  _Carly_.  It wouldn't matter what I thought if this made you happy."

She found her face heating up yet again, and nodded, not trusting her voice, knowing that she'd either say something silly or not be able to speak at all.

...

Nico and West had been told stories, and when they were younger they seemed amazing, unreal. 

And then they'd grown older, and realised just how real they truly were - that 'Team Satisfaction'.  Understanding gave them a newer perspective... or it did to Nico.  West was still too young to fully take in anything other than the fact that they must have been strong, enough to stand up to anything that was in their way, and carve their own paths out.

Then they'd travelled, after Satellite had been opened up again.  They'd left the place where their mother had died, and tried to find somewhere else.

Time after time, they were turned away for one reason or another.

All of them, leaving them back on the road... until Crashtown.

Their dad had duelled each time, and told them both that he'd be strong.  Strong like that Team had been.  They'd cheered him on right until the last, unbelievable, match.

Then, they'd waited.  For someone to come along, to find a way to get their dad out, for something to change... anything.

And then, 'he' had arrived.

Although to be more accurate, it was more like he'd simply rolled into town one day, strange D-Wheel covered in dirt and grime and mud so much that you couldn't see the paintwork underneath, and when they'd tried to help clean some of it off - it couldn't be working properly with all that, could it - the stranger had told them off with a tired voice, saying that they should let it be.

They'd let him stay in their house, that first day and night, although he didn't sleep there, only sat on the bed, staring into space like a man half dead.

They found out that he was around the same size as their father, or he could have been.  The clothes - his old ones had been in awful shape, and he hadn't seemed too fond of them anyway - hung off of his now lanky frame, as though he hadn't eaten properly in weeks.

He vanished after that, only to reappear days later wearing a long black coat, apparently working for Ramon's group, the same as their father had.

The next night at sunset, he arrived at first as a silhouette against the sun, but the first thing they knew wasn't by sight, but by sound.

Something... something about that, it was familiar, even though they'd never heard it before.  A song that had come from all of their hearts.

She ran up to him before he left after winning the duel.  Asked him to wait, just one moment, _please_ -  he'd never told them his name.

Kiryu, he'd said.  Kiryu Kyousuke.

It had left her staring at his back, West having to drag her back to the house.

_Kiryu... Kyousuke._

That was... the name of...

Of someone, she found out, who simply would not lose.  And just like before, he was giving her and her brother something rare - _hope_.

...

_"The hell d'you think you're doing?  Have you got feathers in your brain or something?!"_

_"Ah- ah, I- I just-"  
_

_Kiryu sighed, dragging a hand through his hair.  
_

_"Yeesh... I know you said you wanted to learn, but you never said how much you actually didn't_ _know..."_

_"Hey!  I can learn!  I can!  I just never got more than a few lessons.  I can drive a car just fine, it's just..."  
_

_"Look, Featherbrain-"  
_

_"Don't call me that!"  
_

_"-get back on."  
_

_"I- wait, what?"  
_

_"Like that.  Yeah, no.  Here, let me-" he rolled his eyes, placing his hands at hers, adjusting her position in a detached, almost clinical way, remembering what he'd done wrong when he'd first attempted to learn.  "More like that, got it?"  
_

_He hadn't noticed that she'd stiffened from his touch until she glared at him.  
_

_"What?  You want me to teach you, I'll teach you.   We've both got our own agendas.  Don't worry," he added with a laugh, "you aren't one of mine!"  
_

_And she hadn't been.  He hadn't even thought about it, then.  She relaxed her glare, still disgruntled, and they continued.  
_

_The rest of the session was spent mainly with him correcting her awkward posture and with both of them figuring out what little she did know.  The next day, her own bike arrived - damn, but Misty was creepy with that thing of hers sometimes - and they continued with that, and Kiryu felt less worried knowing that if she crashed, it wouldn't be with his.  
_

_Truth to tell, they didn't need to spend time together outside of their training sessions, but somehow that was exactly what they ended up doing.  
_

_She stopped tensing up when he touched her soon enough, because she became used to his adjusting her posture.  And most of the time, his eyes were on the bike, and on what she was doing with it, not on... other things.  
_

_Which, admittedly, they sometimes were.  He couldn't always keep his mind from wandering.  
_

_When she slapped his hand away when it had been running up her leg at one of those times, he'd laughed it off, not thinking much of it other than that he'd have to control those impulses better.  
_

_That she reminded him that she was Jack's, that Jack was the one that she was meant for, was like a splash of icy cold water.  
_

_He'd lost the playful side.  Turned to her, coldly.  
_

_"Leave Jack out of this," he'd said.  "Talk about him all you want to the others, but not around me, got that?"  
_

_She'd stared at him, as though uncertain, before nodding nervously, looking away.  
_

_"Hn!"  
_

_He'd left her be, that day, storming off and slamming doors.  It wasn't that she'd turned him down.  It was because of the reminder of how it was always about them- Crow, Jack, Yuusei, JACK-  
_

_It left him in a foul mood, his god whispering reminders of revenge, reminiscing over his last battle with Yuusei, knowing that he would have the upper hand this time, because this time Yuusei would have been through the same hell that he'd been put through, and...  
_

_It went on and on.  
_

_Until their next session.  
_

_Focusing on teaching her kept the madness at bay, kept his temper under control.  She didn't bring up Jack again, and he didn't push her.  
_

_Without realising, he smiled, a genuine smile, when she got something right.  
_

_"Hey, that's good!  You're doing it!"  He'd say, eyes black but shining.  "Keep it up!"  
_

_She passed him by again, and she grinned in return.  
_

_For a while... just a while, maybe, they could both forget.  
_

_..._

AN: Just to clarify on the last bit- ironically, no, he was indeed respecting her boundaries.  It just so happens that her 'I'm taken' pushed one of his _berserk buttons_.  ANY of his old team right during that period of his life is a berserk button. 

Also, you might remember that in the previous chapter Misty talked about 'safe zones'.  Here, you get to see exactly what that meant.


	3. Chapter 3

_When they got back into the compound later that night, Misty would find them sitting at a table in a room they'd taken over as a sort of communal area, a chessboard between them and plate of sushi to one side._

_They didn't exactly need to eat, really, but it was a habit, and not one any of them had ever felt like kicking.  Their bodies still digested the food, even if it did them no good.  Taste was also an important factor.  Why give up everything simply because you're dead?  
_

_They hadn't noticed her staring for the longest time.  Carly had been thinking about her next move, and Kiryu himself had been watching her.  Then the prickling at the base of his neck alerted him that they weren't alone, and he turned around - Misty had simply given them a long look, and found herself a seat in which to at first go through her deck yet again, and then read.  
_

_Finally, she moved her piece - only for him to move in reaction, taking out one of her other, more powerful pieces.  
_

_"E-ehh?  How-?"  
_

_Kiryu grabbed a piece of sushi, and she scrunched up her nose at the topping in a way that had him grinning.  
_

_"You focus too much on luck and chance," he said, waving the food around as he gestured with the same hand.  "You should be thinking of the long game.  See?"  
_

_He pointed out the pieces, and the way that he'd played them, explained that he'd set it up so that she'd be baited into going after that one piece, giving him an opening to her king.  She pouted in response, but didn't hold it against him, instead interested in what he was saying.  
_

_"It's like with this," he said with a now full mouth.  He chewed, and swallowed.  "I could've just left things between me and Yuusei until everything was ready.  But Yuusei's a good duelist, I'll give him **that** much.  But now?  Ha!  Fear does things to you, and he's afraid of **me**.  He won't be able to think straight at all!"  
_

_He said it all as though it were mere dinner conversation to be mentioned in passing, and none of the others found anything strange in it at all.  Indeed, Carly was nodding.  
_

_"Another game!"  
_

_The pieces were put back into their original places, and the game began anew.  
_

_The next day, he led her on circuits, executing turns and bends that weren't as hard as she'd have to deal with later on while using her geoglyph as a track, but were good practice all the same.  They came back in to rest still talking about posture, balance, and the many different ways that riding would be different while duelling.  
_

_He was stopped by Rudger while going back to his room to change his shirt.  
_

_"I trust that the lessons are paying off."  
_

_Kiryu crossed his arms.  "She's a fast learner."  
_

_"She'd better be.  We have three days.  You had better use them wisely."  Almost in response to the younger man's rolled eyes, Rudger narrowed his.  "And how to ride a D-Wheel had better be the only thing you are teaching her, Kiryu-kun.  We don't have time for distractions."  
_

_He couldn't help but laugh - was the man really saying what he thought he was saying?  Because even if he'd wanted (and he had to admit, he was tempted), there'd never been any opportunity.  And she'd never shown herself to be exactly **open** to the idea!  
_

_He left, the tone of amusement and ever so slight disbelief satisfying Rudger enough to let him.  
_

_...  
_

She shouldn't have been surprised that life went on far easier once she'd allowed herself to commit to the idea.  Gone was the worry of what they might think, because Jack - and the others - only really wanted what was best for her, and because she'd said that she _wanted_ this, that she didn't feel like it was because she _should_ or anything, they were happy for her.

Of course, it only invited in further worries; how would she be able to afford everything?  A baby was expensive!  She'd need... oh, so much!

At the very least, she didn't have to worry about all that straight away, and wouldn't have to for another several months.

Still, it was a heady feeling, and one that pulled her back and forth between feeling like it was the best decision she could possibly have made and looking forward to the consequences, and then having sudden fears over whether there would be any complications, and would she be able to do well enough financially, and...

It was this that made her lose focus and almost bump into a familiar face while out shopping, although once she'd apologised she blinked, not having recognised him in the different environment.

"Y-Yuusei?"

Yuusei, also somewhat strangely dressed in a cold weather coat instead of his normal jacket, blinked at her.

"Aa.  We needed some things, and since there was a job that needed urgent attention..."

He'd been saddled with shopping duty, she finished in her head, wincing slightly in sympathy.  She could see it now - and Jack would cause either a commotion just by going out even this long after Fortune Cup, or he'd not do the shopping properly... she shook her head, attempting to hide a smile.

Yuusei, of course, would have been less likely to attract attention as well, given his lack of bright red hair and his single marker as opposed to Crow's three.  Discrimination might be going down - and Carly was proud to say that she might have had a hand in that, writing several articles on the nature of Satellite, on Jack albeit with his permission, and on the events of the Signer war, putting them together in such a way that people would accept - but while people could be told to think in a certain way, it would take time for it to fully sink in.

Even now, there were some who noted a hint of orange on Yuusei's face, not being able to see much of the rest of him due to the bulky coat and the warm hat, and assumed, glancing his way warily every so often and watching their things.

It'd take time, that's all.  Time.

Still.  Things weren't bad.

"So," Yuusei was saying, "you're doing all right?"

She nodded, with a little of her usual enthusiasm that was only slightly dampened by the damp cold and her own distracting thoughts.

"Yeah!  It's, it's kind of fun, sometimes!  I mean, not all the time, just, it can be exciting, right?"

She hadn't meant it to sound like a worried question at the end there, but somehow that's how she feared it had turned out.  But Yuusei just nodded.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, if it's what you really want," he said, smiling.

"Mn!  And, ah... you?  How's the...?"

"Aa.  Not much luck, I'm afraid.  We've got a direction, but that's not much help.  Given there aren't as many people living out that way."

She sighed, and watched as he deliberated between one brand of instant coffee and another before making a decision and putting the jar into the basket along with the rest.

"But it's _something_ at least, right?"

"Exactly."

She shifted her grip on her basket, full of ingredients and fast foods alike, to stop it from digging into her arm when it started to get heavy.

"Hn... ne, Yuusei?"

"Mn?"

He rounded the corner down an aisle that she'd already been down, but she found herself following anyway.

"Could you... I mean... tell me about him?  Just a bit?"

Despite herself, she found herself blushing, embarrassed that she had to ask, and unsure what he thought of the request.  He turned to her with an unreadable expression which cleared a few moments later.

"Ah, of course... Jack mentioned that he'd been there with you during our first duel, but you must have forgotten that as well.  Forgive me."

"No, no!  It's all right!  Just-" 

Why did she think she could hear the sound of something loud, overpowering even the conversations around her?  A beating sound...

 _Aurgh_.  Gone.  Always, always _gone_.  She was used to it by now, but that didn't make it any less frustrating.

"I'd like to remember. And, sometimes it's like it's so close, but... I can never get it..."

"...Aa.  I think I get what you mean..."  He trailed off, looking into the distance and past the cans of soup in front of him.  "When we first met him... looking back, I think the best word to describe him would be 'driven'."

"Ah, really?"

She gripped her basket a little tighter.

"Mm.  Not in a bad way, though.  Not then.  He simply wasn't satisfied with what we had, and he had this drive to find a way to make what we did have, well," he smiled, as though finding something ironic, "satisfying."

Something about what he was saying struck her - as though she should recognise something, but it was just out of reach.

"Then... what went wrong?  I-if you don't mind-!"

"It's fine."  He shook his head, however, not meeting her eyes.  "Even now, I sometimes wonder how it happened.  But in the end... I think he went too far.  Became paranoid, and went places that I... none of us... could follow.  But I'd like to think," he continued with a more hopeful tone, "that even at his darkest time, he was still the same person I once knew underneath it all."

"Ah, right..."

Of course they had to hope.  For Yuusei, he'd been a close friend back then, from what she'd gathered, and for her... well.  The results spoke for themselves.  She'd go through with it regardless, but... it was daunting, not knowing. Knowing that she had the answers, but couldn't get _at_ them.

"Mm... it's difficult to say, what he'd be like now."

"Mn, you mean because of the Dark Signer thing, right?"

Some might think her odd for being able to talk about it so lightly, but if she couldn't remember, all she felt was a slight bit of guilt at the realisation that maybe she shouldn't, and sometimes at the winces that the others would attempt to hide.

"I suppose."

Of course... of course there would be other things.

She sighed, and attempted to veer conversation back toward more cheerful topics.

...

Another sunset down, another duel won.

It was almost getting _boring_ , the ease with which he took down everyone Marco's group sent out.  At first, they'd had their bravado, and the idea that someone who wanted to die by coming to this town and signing up willingly couldn't possibly last too long.  But now?

She'd noticed some of them begin to shake when they were told it would be them sent out that evening.  They'd started to see it less as a mark of Marco's trust in them, and more as a sign that their leader was displeased.  Instead of favouring them, it was their final warning.  Their death row.  _Fail me now,_ it said, _and you die._

Invariably, they all died.  Or as good as, anyway.

If it weren't for how he was playing for the other team, Barbara would have long since attempted to cosy up to the boy, because after all, to be able to stay alive so long when everything about him screamed that he was a dead man walking, now _that_ was strength!  But that very thing was also what put her off - there was no passion, no interest, and when he looked at her, it was more like he was either looking past her, or even through her.  Even if he _had_ been working for Marco's group, that would have been no fun at all.

She watched, as they left, eyes narrowing.

 _Boring_.  It really was getting sort of boring, wasn't it?

Which was why she'd sent suggestions into the air when he was over in the shop the other day.  Surely _someone_ had to know a way to stop that handless combo... right?

It wasn't _her_ fault if he'd left the morning after.  _Certainly_ not her fault if he was suddenly reminded of how weak he was in contrast to just one punk kid from Satellite.

Oh, she'd _heard_ of him.  Him and his team.  It was cute, in a way, she'd allow that.  But she didn't like 'cute'.  She liked _strong_.

And so she tried to stifle her giggles as she thought of how Lotten would come back, maybe teach them how to get rid of the white-haired cockroach they were starting to call 'Shinigami'.

...Except, that'd been _days_ ago.  And they'd heard no word from him yet, and Barbara, if nothing else, never liked going in without some sort of backup plan of her own.  Because seriously, allowing all of her gambles to ride on one person?  Regardless of strength, that would be just plain foolish.

So... what now?  Attempt to use those two kids he'd picked up against him?  Oh, she knew about them.  They might try and be quiet, but not much could escape her eyes in this town.  But if she _did_ use them, then what?  He might decide he'd had enough of being a dead man and fight back properly, which would only make him stronger yet, and harder to take down.

So if they couldn't use his only true weakness against him, and any of his old enemies that they'd tried to pit off against him gained no reaction at all, then where did that leave them...

Barbara clapped happily to herself, a small smirk betraying her intentions.

_If an old foe won't work, then how about an old **friend**..._

Oh, _that_ might work...  she'd keep the idea in mind.  Just in case.

For now, she locked the door after seeing her last customer out - flowers for a family shrine, how _sweet_ \- and went upstairs to relax in a nice, hot bath, allowing herself to forget all about the problem of one undying duelist for just a while more.

...

"AH- OI, YUUSEI - YUUSEI!"

He wasn't being very professional, running down the road still in his uniform and grinning, waving a wad of papers at the short riding duelist.  But with the news he had, he figured it could be excused just this once.

Yuusei turned around, though, noticeably moved by how excitable Ushio was being.

"Ah, Ushio, you... don't tell me..."

"Yup!"  He waved the papers around further.  "Progress!  We made progress on finding that friend of yours!  You're damn lucky, too, because if we hadn't known what to look for, we'd have just passed it over as idle talk!"

"Ah?"

"Mm, hm!  White hair, criminal marker down the right side of his face, good at riding a D-Wheel - but it was his _play style_ that got attention."

"His... so Kiryu's _duelling_?!"

"Yeah."  And this was where he got serious and lost some of that excitement, because oh, boy... "Some punk's been asking around, 'how'd you beat a technique like that', and not just only does that suggest he's not honourable enough to figure it out for himself and get stronger that way, but also?  People've been saying he's tough enough as it is.  Been working on some kind of project, too, but no news on that."

Yuusei nodded, now somewhat distracted by his own thoughts on the matter.

"Mn, that's fine.  Have your people heard if he's mentioned anything else about this duelist?"

Ushio shrugged, although he could definitely see where Yuusei was coming from.

"Only really that he referred to this other guy with the handless strategy as a 'demon', but with duelists... that doesn't count for much."

"Aa, true..."

Yuusei's face flickered with something dark, and Ushio frowned, putting a hand on the shorter duelist's shoulder.

"Oi, we're gonna find him, got that?  And bring him back.  For that personal reason you've been keeping from us.  Just trust us Security guys to do our jobs, okay?"

The kid's eyes widened, blinked, and then he looked away slightly with a smile - one Ushio wasn't entirely unfamiliar with, but wasn't sure what it meant outside of an actual duel.

"He's going to be a dad."

Ushio stared, not sure that he'd heard right, dropping his hand back to his side.

"Eh... what?"

"Aa.  You heard me."

"Eh- bu- but that guy-!"

And what was with _going to b_ _e?_   Because there could _not_ have been time for that kind of stuff, and he wasn't sure if he _wanted_ to know how it was supposed to work even if there _had_ been.

"I want to believe that regardless the deck he's using, no matter what happened back then, he still has the chance to become the person I once knew again."  Yuusei shrugged, looking away, demeanour now awkward.  "Carly said that it was all right to tell you, since you were heading the 'sort of official search'."

Ushio stared at him.

"You mean to say she's... but I thought she was, I mean, didn't Jack...?"

The words came out hesitantly.  It wasn't really his place to say what other people were doing with their love lives, but this all seemed, well.  _Odd_ , for someone he knew for a fact had still been going on about how much she liked Jack Atlas up until a while back.

Then again, just how long _had_ it been since she'd gone on about Jack?  He'd noticed that Mikage's old charge had been grumpy for a while, but he hadn't put that together with the reporter girl, and...

He just hoped that this didn't mean Mikage would try and take her chances with Jack now that something seemed to be happening with the guy's girlfriend.  Ex-girlfriend.

"Mn.  It seems that she forgot anything between herself and Kiryu just as much as she forgot everything between her and Jack, after and up to a point.  It's part of why we're trying to find him.  Because she doesn't even remember what he's like."

He had to wince at that.

"Can't have been easy, then.  Finding out, I mean."

Yuusei's eyes narrowed in a distant frown. 

"It wasn't.  But she's doing well, despite that.  Like I said before - she's keeping it."

Yuusei stared, as if in defiance against whatever he might bring up as an objection, and damn it it wasn't as though he _didn't_ have any, but...

"Mn," he said at last, scratching his neck.  He let his hand drop with a sigh.  "Hope she knows what she's getting into.  Even without the dad being a psychopath - no offense, Yuusei - a disappeared one can be just as bad, in some ways."

"...I know."

Ushio wasn't sure he did.  Kid'd grown up on Satellite, and people were different there, for better or worse.  Some things were more normal than others.  Getting back to the rest of the world - well.  People had _expectations_.  The kind that the Satellite-dwellers didn't have.  Usually.

Still, he was pretty damn sure Carly knew what people would think, and if she was still going along with it, well... that was her choice, then.

He just hoped they were all making the right ones.

...

Nico would clearly remember the first time that she could say that she and West were actually _afraid_ of Kiryu.

West had followed the man to where he hid his D-Wheel, and at first, he hadn't minded their presence as long as they didn't disturb him.  Nico herself was perfectly happy busying herself with watching over West, and watching Kiryu himself, who was only really practicing and experimenting on his harmonica.

Things had seemed almost as though they were a normal family of sorts, whatever that meant.  Just out, enjoying the sun.

And then West had started to inspect Kiryu's D-Wheel a little _too_ closely.

The first sign that something was wrong was when the melodic tunes began to fall flat at times, but at first she thought it was simple exhaustion.  Then they slowed.  West had found the screen, and managed to turn it on.  Silence, she noticed.  The harmonica was hanging limply from the man's hands, away from his mouth, his eyes wide with some emotion she hadn't seen from him before.

She opened her mouth to say something - tell her brother off, tell him he'd gone too far - but she was beaten to it.

Kiryu's hand was around West's wrist, her brother looking up in shock, the grip itself seeming far more tight and harsh than truly needed.

"Don't.  Don't _ever_.  Do that again.  Do you understand me?"

West nodded frantically, and Kiryu lifted him away from the bike with both of his hands and put him back down closer to Nico.  He still didn't release him yet, though.

"No, you _don't_.  But you aren't going to anyway, are you?"  He looked between them, from West to Nico and back again, and she found that her heart was racing, her hand at her mouth, as she nodded. 

"I'm... we're sorry, Kiryu-niisan..."

The words seemed to spark something inside him and jerk him out of his mood, because he let go of West's wrist like it burned him, clutching at his hand like it was on fire or in pain.

"You... you aren't the ones who should be sorry.  I don't know how you can still _call me that_."

"But, niichan, you..." West's voice was shaking, and it did indeed look like there was going to be a bruise there.  But it would heal.

Kiryu, however...

"There are things... things on my D-Wheel.  That I don't want anyone else to have to see.  They're my demons.  You guys shouldn't have to face them.  That's... that's why I don't want you messing around with it.  Got it?"

Kiryu was shaking.  She couldn't see his face, hidden by the shadows of dusk and his hair, but his voice, too, was shaking.

She nodded, but had to know.

"But, niisan... why not just take it off?  If- if it's a computer, you should be able to do that, right...?"

She didn't know much about computers, and West knew less.  But she did know that.

Kiryu, however, was shaking his head.

"I need it there.  It's my- my proof.  That it shouldn't be so easy to just forget the past."

Nico bowed her head.

"I'm sorry, then.  That we brought it up."

She had no response.

She held out her hand, and West put his smaller one in hers, looking up at his sister for reassurance that it was going to be okay.

Nico couldn't even say for sure either way.  But she lead her brother away anyway - they both needed space. 

Sometimes you just had to respect that a person's past was their own.  It was one thing she'd learned, in this town, and quickly.

"It'll be fine," she said in the meantime to West.  "You just pried too far, that's all."

"He's going to be able to duel tomorrow, right?"

She cracked a smile.  "Of course!" 

How could she believe otherwise?  Kiryu was _always_ there at exactly sunset, playing that melody.

"We should get something cold on that," she fussed, not knowing where they'd be able to find such a thing unless it meant sneaking into one of the bars for the ice they used in their drinks.  "If you'd wanted to see how it worked, you could have asked.  I'm sure he wouldn't have minded too much, and this wouldn't have needed to have happened!"

They needn't have worried.  A few hours later, ice somehow appeared just outside their door, but the person who'd left it there was nowhere to be found when they looked out to see.

...

Several hours later, he was leaning back against the bike, head in his hands.

He'd gone too far.  He'd scared them.  He'd wanted never to be that person again, and he'd-

He took a shaky breath.  First one, then another, until the fear and pain gave way to a numbness that was both better, and worse.

He couldn't bring himself to delete the history stored away in his bike.  Like the bike itself, it was a constant reminder of what had been.

Not just of his own past... but of things that only he remembered.

The first time he duelled her.  Every training session, every practice match.  He could forget about the _whys_ , the  _what fors_ , if only because the memories themselves had been good, isolated from anything else.

How...

How could he treat that as though it was something he had the right to pretend never happened?

...

_It started with the little things.  Things that, as he was, he didn't notice._

_She allowed his touch to linger, even when he didn't realise that he was doing so.  The sway of her hips just when she must have known he was looking.  The quirk of her mouth when she knew that he'd noticed.  
_

_He didn't add it all up until it was too late, because he wanted them to be there, because nothing would have pleased him more than to just give in.  To sink into the sensation.  
_

_When had they started kissing?  When had they ended up in his room, and why?  In just a moment, all of the entirely reasonable explanations fizzled out to leave him breathless, hands in her hair as he breathed her in.  
_

_This... this was what he'd wanted.  This...  
_

_This...  
_

_He pushed her back.  Away from him.  Gasped.  Leaned against the wall.  
_

_"What- why?"  She had to ask?  Really?  "I thought you wanted it..."  
_

_He turned back to her, eyes wide and still breathing heavily, clothes thankfully only rumpled and not removed, as he was sure might have happened had he not realised what was going on.  
_

_"Who the hell are you trying to impress?"  
_

_"What...?"  
_

_"I'm teaching you all this stuff so you can duel JACK.  You remember him, right?"  
_

_Carly hesitated, and he snorted.  
_

_"Sure you do.  And I bet I know what this was.  Just trying to get to him through me, is it?"  
_

_"What? No! I-!"  
_

_"No.  Never mind.  I don't- I-"  
_

_He pushed past her, escaping the confines of his own rooms, and trying - failing - to forget how **good** that had felt, while it had lasted.  But it couldn't.   
_

_Rudger's words echoed in his mind - they had a job to do.  They were going to destroy the Signers completely.  Including Jack, and Yuusei... and they didn't have time for this.  Even if... even if he_ _**wanted** there to be time.  
_

_The next thing he knew, he was in the garage, and then on the 'track', making circuits and attempting to focus on the road - or what would be the road, in just a few days' time - but he kept remembering her.  
_

_Her touch, her eyes, her smile, the way she laughed when she wasn't trying to put on a tough act for anyone.  
_

_No good.  It was no good.  He grimaced, and went faster - only to find her there, matching his pace.  
_

_"Duel me!" he heard over the audio link.  
_

_"And if I win?"  
_

_She hadn't been able to beat him up until now.  Always, he knew, she had seen him as an obstacle, and nothing more.  Jack had been the end goal, and he, Kiryu, merely a distraction.  Something that had cost her in every match, unable to focus on his moves.  
_

_"If you win, then it shows that nothing's changed!  But if I win," she said, revving the bike faster, overtaking him just slightly, "then it shows I'm capable of thinking of more than just Jack!"  
_

_At first he frowned, but then a smirk grew on his face, a smirk that bubbled into laughter.  Maybe this'd be satisfying after all!  
_

_"Duel, then!"  
_

_The geoglyphs didn't appear - they wouldn't, when the gods themselves weren't in their decks, waiting for the right fight in order to appear.  But they followed the course they were familiar with instead, turn against turn, speed against speed.  He noted how her control was getting better and better, her focus needed less on her movements and more on the game.  She held her cards with ease, and there were no emergency stops to pick up something dropped.  
_

_He read her moves, like he'd done so many times before, but she saw his just as well.  It was a constant banter of equal footing, despite her lack of a dark synchro.  
_

_She **saw** him.  She saw... him.  
_

_They rounded the last corner, and he saw her expression, just for a fleeting moment - smiling, no, grinning, enjoying the duel, right before she activated her trap.  
_

_She won.  Who knew what would have been the outcome if they'd had their gods on hand, but they hadn't, and the duel had ended with her win.  
_

_Yet it made him... satisfied.  And at the same time, hunger for more.  She was good.  Maybe, she could even do what she'd set out to do, and defeat Jack.  
_

_They came to a stop back by the garage, where they got off laughing with each other, and he leaned his hand on her shoulder as they did so, almost forgetting the reason why the duel had been declared in the first place.  
_

_Almost.  But not quite.  
_

_Not when her all-too-pleased smile caught him off guard, and she looked at his hand on her shoulder, she blushed, and rushed inside.  Confused, he followed after... only to find her talking animatedly with Misty, who sent him a strange look.  
_

_"I was just saying how far I've come!  Haven't I been doing well, Kiryu?"  
_

_Caught off balance by the question after everything that had happened, he blinked.  Then nodded.  
_

_"Mn.  She's going to win."  
_

_Misty looked between them, eyes narrowing, but he brushed past them both to find a comfortable chair after a long duel in the driving seat.  Which would have been relaxing, if it hadn't been for how Carly then thought that it was big enough for two when really it wasn't, and started talking strategy, just like that.  
_

_He fought to keep the heat from his face.  Dark Signers weren't supposed to be hormonal, they were supposed to be dead.  And they weren't, as far as he was concerned, supposed to blush.  
_

_Something that was coming far, far too easily recently.  
_

_...  
_

AN: For anyone who still had lingering ideas from the first chapter that it was _possibly_ non-consensual?  Look.  HERE.  Because one, _she's_ making advances, and two, _he pushes her away_.  Notably because he doesn't want to be second best, but still. When the premise of the Dark Signers is that they're driven by some kind of _desire_ \- lust/love, revenge, etc., it would have been entirely feasible for him to have just said 'sure' and gone with it.  

Kiryu, however, had the opposing 'desire' to not be satisfied with less than he thought he deserved.  And had been telling her exactly why she wasn't winning (not seeing him) which can actually be traced back manga-wise to the Y. Yugi vs. Mai duel in Duelist Kingdom.  Yugi was losing until he began seeing his opponent as an opponent, rather than a stepping-stone.

Also, the image of Yuusei in a winter coat and hat is far too adorable.  Save me.


	4. Chapter 4

_Three days wasn’t enough. He doubted three_ weeks _would be enough, and even then, he wasn’t sure._

_It wasn’t as though he thought they were going to lose. He knew that entertaining the idea that they’d lose could be just as powerful as the fear of losing. So no, it wasn’t losing._

_It was simply that there was a feeling of there being a deadline, and everything after that was undecided, up in the air._

_If their side won, what then? Would they be satisfied? He didn’t have the answers, and a part of him didn’t care to get them._

_The niggling, nervous sensation – one that shouldn’t really exist, he kept telling himself – told him that not all of them might survive. Not everyone needed to, so long as they were able to summon the King of the Netherworld._

_The thought worried him for too many reasons to count, and reasons that his god was all too happy to encourage him to ignore. Worrying would make him perform poorly. Worrying might make him lose._

_He’d managed to install trackers and miniature yet extremely bombs inside duel disks. He was able to make the sound system of Old Momentum play ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It’ blasting from the speakers._

_Misty had stared in disbelief. Demak had ignored him, his antics clearly not important enough to bother with – that or he didn’t get the English enough to understand the joke._

_Carly laughed, though, and he enjoyed putting several more songs on over the tannoy until Rudger made him stop, glaring, telling him that they were supposed to be taking this seriously._

_He’d done as told and turned the music off, but every so often, he and Carly shared looks and it’d be hard not to laugh._

_Then, Carly had found the camera later that day, something that even to Kiryu, who was used to Satellite only being given the trash the city had found useless, was old._

_But apparently it still did its job, and she seemed perfectly content to snap away at empty rooms, hallways and other areas, not to mention not-so-empty areas where they just happened to be, up until she ended up trying to take one too many of him, and then the shutter was pressed down too much as he tried to take the offending thing away._

_Unfortunately for both of them, Rudger was the one to put an end to that, too, more or less confiscating the camera and its contents. Unfortunate for Carly because she ended up losing her toy; unfortunate for Kiryu because it was just a frustrating few moments before he’d have ended up distracting her in an entirely different way if they’d been left to their own devices._

_He’d pushed the annoyance to one side for long enough to roll his eyes at their leader._

_“Ease up, would you? We’re going to win. What’s the harm in a bit of fun?”_

_Rudger had merely frowned. “If you have enough time to rig the speaker system, you have enough time to practice and make ready. We haven’t got long. I hope you think yourselves prepared.”_

_“Not satisfied with how she’s coming along, are you?”_

_Rudger had turned away._

_“I am merely concerned that you are not taking your preparations seriously, given that we are working to a deadline.”_

_Kiryu walked away, a hand waving casually in the air, wearing a smirk on his face._

_“Crashing and burning on this isn’t on my to do list, got it?”_

_Some fresh air would be good anyway. He got sick of seeing the same old corridors all the time, and it wasn’t hard to get a sudden need for the addictive rush of speed he had when riding._

_It wasn’t long before he sensed another rider coming up behind him, but given the area – BAD had very few people able to put a D-wheel together, let along keep it running – and how confident they were around him, a duellist with a dark aura, and how they weren’t making his marker react, it wasn’t hard to realise it was Carly._

_With even fewer people around than ever before, and the damage the area had taken from his first duel against Yuusei, it was dead easy to simply go back there and use the tracks in order to one up on their practice from before. A step closer to the real thing, with him leading her around the tight corners and bends and twists, hearing her echo his movements with growing perfection._

_It became a chase. Like a game of cat and mouse, although sometimes she’d overtake, and then at other times he’d get the lead back. They taunted each other with their distance and their techniques, flaunting, flirting close to the edge of the track and showing off until-_

_Until she cornered him, or he cornered her, right on the edge of a bend._

_It was like a dance, he realised. One he’d never heard the music to before, and he didn’t know if that was because the music hadn’t been there, or he’d been lacking a partner, or he’d simply never heard it, drowned out by all else._

_He didn’t know when the first step had been taken, but he found that it was easy to pick up the rhythm once he’d found it from where they’d left off._

_His hands in her hair. His eyes closed. If they generated enough warmth, the engine still running, they could pretend they were alive again._

…

 

Yuusei checked went over his mental checklist for what felt like the tenth time. He'd decided long before that he was going to give himself a head start on the others, to give Jack a chance to cool his head before they found Kiryu if nothing else.

It wasn't like he and Crow weren't angry either. They just weren't as likely to blow up in Kiryu's face the moment they met, when that was the last thing that would be useful for any of them. With any luck, he could get there and have talked Kiryu down by the time Jack arrived, got the situation under control…

He gave a sigh. Everything was in order, all packed away properly.  The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, already casting its golden glint off of a few windows, something that would have been problematic if his helmet didn't have a visor attached for that very purpose.

 _Now or never, then_ , he thought to himself, and he began to push the bike out of the garage, not starting it up yet because the other two, still asleep, would hear the noise of a revving engine, connect it to his, and put two and two together.

No. Far better to head off undetected.

He heard birdsong overhead, floating through the air from different directions, and reassured himself that while Crow would likely be up and about soon enough, Jack would be asleep until midday at least.  And Crow, he was sure, would understand the need to keep Jack at a distance until things were in hand.

He only wished he'd had time for coffee before leaving, but one or both might have heard the kettle, or smelled it. Too risky – easier just to get one later, once he'd already got a head start, not too long, though. And he'd need a break sometime during the day anyway.

One by one, the shopkeepers began to come out, setting up stall and turning on lights again, and a few waved over at the duellist who was obviously up at the crack of dawn to train, recognising the sight of Satellite's shooting star by his D-wheel alone.

He wasn't out to train, though. But let them believe what they will - it wasn't their business.

He mentally calculated the distance between where he now was, and the garage, and stopped pushing the bike. Sat, and made sure that everything was in full working order just to make sure, even though he’d done so the previous night, and that morning. Revved up the engine, and _went_ , sudden speed causing him to almost lose his breath for a moment in the adrenaline-inducing acceleration he so loved.

_I'm coming for you, Kiryu. Just wait. You've lasted this long, you can last a few days longer._

_..._

It would have been easy for Crow to believe that he was, like always, the first up and about in the morning. Which would hardly have been a surprise, since Yuusei pretty much still worked from the garage except from the rare - _really_ rare, especially after they saw his marker even if or after they recognised him as the winner of the Fortune Cup - times when he made house calls. And Jack, of course, rarely woke up earlier than midday unless there was something he saw fit to set an alarm for, which was hardly _ever_.

So finding himself alone as the sun crept up past the buildings and past the windows wasn't new.

What _was_ new was looking into the garage with his instant coffee in hand, knowing that they were gonna have a long day ahead, and seeing a bike missing.

His first thought had been that it'd somehow been _stolen_. Not all that unexpected if they'd been in Satellite still and they hadn't been watching over the bikes well enough, but the other two were still there, and in perfect shape. All that was missing was the Yuusei Go.

Although, now that he thought about it, Crow had noticed that it was surprisingly _quiet_ , even for this time in the morning, and-

He put his half-drunk coffee down and headed over to Yuusei's room, and he found himself incredibly unsurprised to _not_ find him there. He'd been the one out of the three of them who was most... not gung-ho, but certainly _intense_ about getting Kiryu back. Jack, sure, Jack was... Jack, really, and pretty pissed at Kiryu for _everything_. Hell, running off, Carly, the whole not contacting them thing, _Carly_ , and... maybe with that in mind he could kinda see why Yuusei'd gone ahead of them.

That didn't mean Crow wasn't angry at him, though. It just meant he now wanted to bash both of their heads together until they saw sense.

And Kiryu's. He frowned at the thought, although not sure whether that was from wondering whether Kiryu _needed_ another hit to the head, or thinking that he needed a _fair few less_ hits. He’d certainly had something wrong with his head even _after_ coming back.

Not that he could do anything about that _now_ of course.

Now... huh.

Crow steeled himself for the daunting prospect of having to wake Jack up in the _early morning_ , when Jack was still half asleep no matter that he'd got way more sleep than was really necessary. He had the dubious honour of knowing that Jack in the morning generally tended to get things thrown at you and cusses turn the air blue.

He briefly wondered about how back when Jack’d been King, either the master of faster had slept in most days – unlikely - or someone… Mikage, maybe? Could've been, from the way she treated him, or maybe Godwin himself once or twice, who knew other than Jack himself - had woken him up.  Of course, he doubted he'd actually get any answers out of anyone, and one of the ones mentioned was _dead_ -

He shook himself out of that depressing thought and opened the door to Jack's room - loudly.

"OI!"

He still needed to shout to get any kind of reaction, though. And all that got him was a pillow lobbed at his head - good aim, too, if he hadn't dodged in time.

"Piss off," he heard from under the covers, although given that it was muffled it came out barely comprehensible. Crow knew Jack well enough to have the dubious honour of knowing how to translate it, though.

He snorted, rolling his eyes and lobbing the pillow back at Jack's head.

"Yeah, looks like _someone's_ already gone and done that," he said. Not snidely. And he wasn't actually hurt, not _really_. He understood.

All right, sure. He might be pissed because Yuusei had gone off on his own _again_.

The covers went still, and then the long bundle rolled over with a groan.

"Y'r kidding me," Jack slurred out, words becoming slightly more like real language as he woke up.  He glanced around. "Whassa-"

Time, huh? Crow remembered seeing it as he came up.

"Just after six thirty."

Jack swore. It could have been because of the time, or the fact that Yuusei was already gone and had that much of a head start on them, but in the end it was probably both. With an emphasis on the former most likely, given how coherent Jack’s thought processing likely was right now.

Crow gave up. He knew damn well that it’d take too long to catch up to Yuusei even if he somehow managed to get both Jack and himself dressed and packed up and ready to go in seconds flat.

Instead, he took his coffee down to the garage and turned on the revamped old computer that was only decent by the city’s standards, but they’d managed to upgrade it

It didn’t take much to get the thing to bring up a video call to Yuusei’s D-wheel, and he was only on hold for a few moments before the computer’s screen fizzed into a view of his friend’s face.

_“Ah. Crow.”_

“Don’t you ‘ah, Crow’ me! You went and offed without a single word! Jack’s gonna be pissed once he actually wakes up!”

_“Mmn. I suppose.”_

Damn, if he knew Yuusei – and he did, damn it – then that was a smile. Unrepentant little-

“ _Fine_ , then. At least tell me _where the hell you are by now_.”

 _“Sorry about that.”_ The view was slightly obscured for a few moments while Yuusei did something with the screen, and the computer flashed up with a notification bar. _“I just sent the co-ordinates. Crashtown. I’m not quite halfway there yet, but I’m making good time.”_

 Crow sighed. Getting angry wouldn’t get them anywhere. Especially not this early in the morning.

“Just – be careful, you got it? Just because we know _where_ he is, doesn’t mean we know what he’s involved in, _or_ how much he’s changed.”

_“I know. I’ll bring him back, Crow.”_

“That wasn’t what I damn well meant and you know it.” He rubbed at his forehead, thumb brushing the marker he’d been given there thoughtlessly. “Like it or not, we’re coming after you. You both attract trouble like Jack gets fangirls following him on the street, so what’s the betting you’re gonna need backup at some point, huh?”

_“If I have anything come up, I’ll call you. See you around, Crow.”_

And with that, the pop up window the conversation had been taking place on closed, and he sent the coordinates and route to this Crashtown place to his and Jack’s D-wheels.

…

It took Yuusei two hours to leave the city behind, and another to lose the suburbs and smaller towns. After that, it was the open road, with fewer vehicles and fewer train tracks cutting across the view.

Not that he had much time to admire said view; his main focus was on the road, and making sure he was keeping up the right speed for the limit while also trying to get to his destination in as little time as possible.

If he was honest, he wasn’t just doing this for Carly. Not that he didn’t think the others were unaware of this – more that he needed to know that he was being honest with himself before he tried talking Kiryu around, because going at this half-heartedly would get them precisely nowhere.

No, he wanted Kiryu back for more selfish reasons, if they could be called such.

He missed his old friend. He missed knowing that everyone was safe and sound, and even though he’d known in his mind that Kiryu had needed that time away, his heart had been riddled with worry well before they’d found out about his… connection… to Carly’s situation.

There’d always been a feeling of something being wrong, the idea that he should have gone after Kiryu and somehow made him keep in contact, made him somehow reassure them that he’d be fine, had kept coming back to him.

It had come back with a vengeance when they’d started to piece things together after talking with Misty.

What if that had been why Kiryu had run? What if it was due to guilt that he hadn’t wanted to own up to?

It was possible, but even so, Yuusei hadn’t wanted to believe that even then, his friend, that _Kiryu_ could do such a thing. He’d had reason in his own mind to hate Yuusei, and the many countless souls that had been sacrificed not just once but _twice_ , had been faceless.

Yuusei knew how easy it was to feel such anger and, dare he say it, _hate_ , for a body of people he knew nothing about. It hadn’t been too long ago when he would have sneered, if not visibly, at the city residents, been in disbelief of the idea of living among them.

But something as personal as what had happened with Carly… no. Regardless what else he thought about it all, he still believed in _Kiryu_.

His expression set harder, his hands gripping tighter on the acceleration, and when he noticed that he was the only one on the road, he sped forward faster than ever.

It was nearly midday. He’d need to stop soon to rest, which would take time, and at some point he might have to refuel.

All in all, if he were able to keep going without pausing, he’d get there late tonight. Maybe. But if he did that, then he’d be in no condition to help Kiryu when he got there, or to duel him to his senses if something else was going on.

He might make it there by this time tomorrow. If he was lucky.

Logically speaking, they hadn’t heard anything about a time limit, or that Kiryu himself was in any real danger, but something felt off about the entire situation, something about a thing Ushio had told him – something _other_ than why they’d searched in the first place – and it drove him to frustration, and even more so at any time wasted.

…

If he listened hard enough, he could trick his mind into believing that he could still hear the cart being taken away, with its latest duellist still inside and screaming to get out.

A duellist that he, essentially, had put in the coffin with his duelling. Another life ended because of his victory, and his continued existence.

It would just be a trick of his mind, though, and not something he could actually hear. By now, the cart would be nearly to the mountain, and when he and the rest of Ramon’s group were in the salon celebrating another victory, another win, there was no way the sound could reach that far.

Especially not with the noise generated by the people inside.

Ramon himself clasped a friendly hand on his shoulder, something at which Kiryu simply glanced at coldly, rather than any motion to remove it that he’d have gone through if he’d had the energy.

“You did good out there today, sensei!” The man was in a good mood, although it was rare that he wasn’t, ever since Kiryu had joined up and the Ramon group hadn’t lost a single duel. “Here, to celebrate another sunset!”

A shot glass was put in front of him. He eyed it with suspicion, brought it up, smelled it, but then put it firmly down. Drew his chair back, and stood, Ramon’s hand falling from his shoulder as he did so.

“I need to go fix up my bike.”

Ramon might have tried needling before, but now he just rolled his eyes and took the shot for himself. Kiryu had only gone two paces however by the time someone else spoke up.

“Oi, you still using that thing? Why not use one of ours?”

Others joined in with the generally well-meaning teasing session, but he simply closed his eyes and sighed.

“It’s still a D-wheel,” was all he said. “Whether it fits in or not doesn’t matter.”

No one really bothered him about it more than banter any more, though. The first person to try anything with the odd-looking bike had ended up with a broken arm before Kiryu realised what he was doing, and after that if anyone had tried to take it, they’d invariably ended up next to appear at sunset for duel time – and often ending up with bruises and burns for their trouble that shouldn’t have appeared from a solid vision duel with holograms.

After a while, they’d simply learned not to mess with the Shinigami’s bike. It was safer that way.

Apart from the lack of attention to how clean it was, because if he couldn’t see the paintwork then he could pretend during the bad times that it just _looked_ similar, that it wasn’t the _same_ bike, it was in good condition, more or less. He looked after it.

While he’d been undead, that hadn’t been an issue. The bike had more or less looked after itself.

Nowadays, bits fell off and needed to be replaced, the water needed filling, the fuel kept topped up. He’d almost forgotten what it was like. Almost.

The routine helped. It only required minimal involvement, the actions themselves rote and, by the time he’d remembered them again, not things he had to think of in order to do.

The job this time was a simple one. Something had come loose, so he’d taken the right tools for the job and retreated into the Ramon group’s garage so that he could use the light while he worked.

Since the bike was a D-wheel, it was more powerful than anything anyone in the town owned, and even more so given where it had come from. Since it wasn’t something directly affiliated or given to him by Ramon in exchange for duelling on his group’s side, it was his to ride away on at any time.

He could. That was the thing. He _could_.

They knew it, too. They thought he was crazy. He knew what crazy was, though, and this wasn’t it. He’d been there, he’d been through hell and come out the other side, rejected by death a second time. They called him suicidal for staying too long saying behind his back that sooner or later his luck would run out.

That, he couldn’t say he faulted them for. You couldn’t call someone a liar for stating the truth after all.

Maybe one of these days someone would come up against him who was good enough to take him out. Maybe he’d get a bad hand, or bad luck. Then, it’d be him heading off to the mountain, paying for his sins.

And this old bike could gather dust, and maybe in time it wouldn’t even be recognisable. Or it could be taken for parts, by people who didn’t know what kind of thing they were pawning off.

Perhaps that would be a relief, not having to look after it, not having to worry over the idea that if someone touched the wrong thing, they’d bring up all of the things he wished he could (hoped he wouldn’t) forget. Because assuming someone was able to get him that far, there would… _be_ no future.

Kiryu realised belatedly that he was staring mutely at the tools and that he’d finished the job ages back.

He put them down and, unable to summon the motivation to move further than the wall, leaned somewhat against it and drew his coat further around him to sleep.

He dreamt dreams of angered gods, endless screams, and the touch of her lips in the dark.

At some point, someone came by and put a spare blanket over him, but he didn’t wake up for it, just rolling over somewhat, his breath hitching, and then the sweet release of dreamless sleep.

…

_They detoured on the way back, scouting out the towers that would become so important later on._

_It was a disjointed trip. The moment she realised she was going to be duelling Jack there, all of Carly’s attention was on the future, on Jack, on strategy and tactics and terrain._

_Kiryu found himself leaning back against his D-wheel, bored and unsatisfied by the lack of attention, thoughts wandering back to his own grudge, as though they had a mind of their own._

_In just a day or so’s time, he’d be duelling Yuusei – for real, this time. Not just a warm up match to strike the appropriate fear into his opponent’s heart and make them quiver, but a duel to kill._

_After all, that’d be all the more satisfying, wouldn’t it? Going the whole length. Completing his revenge. The look on Yuusei’s face as Ccapac yet again was about to kill him, crush him under the weight of everything he, Kiryu Kyousuke, had suffered because of Fudo Yuusei’s actions-_

_And if Rudger had been wanting to duel Yuusei, then that was just too bad. Kiryu had first dibs._

_His thoughts were interrupted by a call, and he looked up to see Carly and her D-wheel on top of a ridge created by destroyed buildings and rubble. She was waving happily down at him, and gesturing that he come up._

_She’d wanted him to show her how to do something, and he did so, attempting to explain each step, even when it was simply something he’d picked up, never been taught._

_She was a fast learner, though. Some part of him felt proud, and the feeling made his head and his heart hurt in confusion at how it reminded him of how he’d felt whenever his team had won against a rival team, whenever one of their crazy plans had worked._

_Some other part of him was entirely reluctant to give in to the idea that at some point, she might not need him, that she would leave him behind, walk – or rather, ride – off into the sunset, just like everyone else had._

_He bit down on the fear, not because he was certain it wouldn’t happen, but because he knew it might and they simply couldn’t afford to be divided with so little time to go._

_The ride back was spent more or less in silence, but they didn’t need words to communicate where they were going, when they were turning, that they were going to accelerate or slow down for the other to catch up. It was… familiar. Soothing, like listening to his own heartbeat or the rhythm of his breathing._

_For a few minutes, he could forget again._

_But all things end, and they found themselves back at Old Momentum too soon. The music was lost._

_Rudger was waiting for them, with an odd look on his face. Carly ignored the man completely, apart from a slight nod, although Kiryu himself raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to ask whatever was on his mind._

_Rudger had narrowed his eyes._

_“Don’t get distracted,” he’d said. That was it. ‘Don’t get distracted’._

_As if he’d needed to be told._

_Kiryu snorted, and noticed Carly heading to her room – instead of following her, or going to his own room, he headed to the common area, seating himself on one of the sofas, sitting – practically lying – lengthwise with his feet up on the other arm. He took his deck out, sorting through it and matching the various combinations he could use depending on the situation in his head, mentally mapping hundreds of hypothetical duels out in preparation for the one that would eventually happen._

_And then his eyes fell across… ‘it’, again. That one card._

_God had come to him while he was dying to grant one wish. It wouldn’t be long now until that time came, and it was granted once and for all. His revenge. His last duel..._

_Not long at all._

_…_

_The next day dawned dimly down in the compound where little light got in, even when the sun was at its zenith and shining directly down through the hole in the ground that the place had become._

_Kiryu had spent the night in the common area on the sofa, not noticing time passing. It wasn’t as though they even truly needed sleep – it was a respite, a break from the constant unyielding darkness, but other than that it did nothing. Their bodies didn’t cry out for it, and did not suffer when it was deprived of them as it would have before._

_The door to someone’s room closed sharply in the distance, and he briefly wondered who it was before he heard the clack of heels on the carpetless floor._

_Either Misty or Carly, then, and he’d convinced Carly days ago to ditch the heels when she went out riding._

_Misty, then. And in a hurry, it seemed. Kiryu lifted his head, slightly curious, but not enough to actually sit up properly, let alone stand._

_He heard a knock. The door opened, as though it’d been expected._

_“Yes?”_

_“I just had a call from my PA in Neo Domino,” Misty was saying. Of course. The woman was still in contact with people who thought she was still alive, just on a vacation of sorts. People who’d soon be on a vacation from life itself. “She said that the Signers are still holed up in the Director’s mansion. However, there was one thing of note.”_

_“Well? What is it?”_

_“We were able to get a hold of certain medical files. It seems they now deem Fudo Yuusei fit to fight again.”_

_With that, Kiryu’s full attention was grabbed, caught hook, line and sinker._

_“Then the original plan can still go ahead.”_

_“That is what it seems, yes. And they’ve managed to repair his D-wheel.”_

_He didn’t hear any more than that – their voices were drowned out by the memories of his last duel. He didn’t notice that he’d moved from a leisurely lying down position to sitting cross-legged with his head resting on his hands, fingers interlaced, expression set._

_He was glad – really, he was. He was happy that it would be this way._

_It would have been unsatisfying by far if he’d had to duel Yuusei on the ground, and no satisfaction in the win at all if the previous victory had been at the cost of a true duel to the death._

_His thoughts had been interrupted when Carly ended up sitting herself down on the seat next to him, the presence of another person jerking him free of them._

_“Something the matter?”_

_She’d poked him, and he’d shoved lightly back at her._

_“The plan goes ahead. Soon.”_

_Her eyes had lit up, dark excitement evident in them, and he’d have been hard pressed not to respond in kind with a similar grin on his own face._

_“I’m ready,” she’d said eagerly. “Thanks to you, I’m ready!”_

_He didn’t understand why the presence he’d long since understood to be his god, the giant, Ccapac Apu, was making its displeasure known at the warm feeling he had at the words._

_Perhaps it was best not to wonder._

...

AN: And here we have the (hopefully) long-awaited fourth chapter! I ended up having to re-write the entire first section upon coming back to it. Also, Rudger is _still_ not a shipper.

Also, I came up with the theory that the Dark Signers are actually re-animated by their gods, so they still breathe and have a pulse, but it could stop at any time by the will of their 'God'. Any questions on anything, please bring it up, though.

Actual Crashtown territory next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

_Unseen, they watched as their leader duelled Yuusei, as the Signers and their friends scrambled around in a vain attempt to protect each other from the might of the Earthbound._

_Wagers were placed – regardless if there was nothing to bet, at this point – on would have won if Rudger had duelled Jack instead, as the Signer had been the first to issue a challenge. Carly was steadfast in her opinion that Jack would have won, although the others argued the merits of both decks. Kiryu was the only one to know both, but even then admitted it would have been an interesting duel to watch either way – especially with how Rudger was leading the duel in the here and now._

_Though he had to admit, he was relieved that the elder Dark Signer had thought to use his power to substitute himself just as he was relieved that there hadn’t been any real outcome this time._

_Yuusei, after all, was his opponent. Rudger knew that. Or he damn well should._

_He supposed that was how Carly felt about Jack. That same possessiveness – he was, after all, her opponent. The one she’d come back from hell to defeat._

_Of course, none of this whatsoever had stopped them from sniping on either duellist’s playing style – although Kiryu himself was the worse perpetrator of this, complaining that he’d seen Yuusei use moves just like those before._

_There’d been a general groan of frustration from all of them when Yuusei and the Aki girl had noticed the kids caught inside the geoglyph. Dissent voiced mainly due to how the distraction was time wasted when the duel should still have been going on – after all, it wasn’t as though they wouldn’t have been caught up as sacrifices anyway. All of that scurrying around was just delaying the inevitable._

_Carly, of course Carly had cheered with a fist pumping the air when she saw Jack save the two kids. The rest of them had stared at her until she’d laughed nervously, but Kiryu had just rolled his eyes._

_That was the way Carly was. She hadn’t come back for revenge. She didn’t hate anyone. Not as far as he knew, anyway. They were just nuisances in the way of her goal, and her goal just happened to be Jack Atlas._

_He supposed that he didn’t care much either way what happened to that particular old teammate – either he’d die, or he’d be reborn as a new Dark Signer…_

_For an instant, something bothered him about the imagined future of a moment. Suggesting that there was something he hadn’t thought through._

_He pushed it to one side, and stood._

_“That’s our cue,” Misty was saying._

_He nudged Carly while there was still a commotion going on below them._

_“Hey, don’t do anything stupid and crash out there after all I’ve gone through to teach you, got it? I won’t be satisfied with anything other than a win!”_

_He heard rather than saw her huff and put a hand on her hip as he crossed his arms with a smirk._

_“Save your luck for yourself – at least I can see a future where I win!”_

_He’d snickered before all of the attention was drawn to the group, and hadn’t thought that losing was a possibility – not for any of them._

_…_

_Irony had a way of biting him in the backside._

_He’d lived – and lived through hell, through death and beyond that – to make Yuusei feel the same pain he had. The same fear. He’d promised himself that he’d never, ever be satisfied until he’d managed to recreate that terror on his betrayer’s face, and see his body dance in its death throes._

_What he hadn’t accounted for was the idea that, maybe, he’d been wrong. That all this time, he’d been wrong._

_Wrong about Yuusei – about the past – about why he’d even wanted to continue to live._

_And when his heart had wavered, even for just a moment, his god had turned against him. Ccapac Apu had been steering him in its direction for years, now, and like its Dark Signer, didn’t take traitors to the cause without retribution._

_Protection had been denied. The earth underneath him had faltered, his D-wheel shuddering underneath him and becoming hard to steer._

_Stupid. Wasn’t that him, though?_

_The thought rushed through his head before he had a chance to deny it._

_Yuusei’s hand reached out before he had a chance to regain himself, before he could search among his memories and his grudge and remind himself why he hated, why he hurt._

_When he’d come to this place, come so far, in order to make Yuusei feel the same fear and pain… what did he do when Yuusei just accepted it?_

_The answer, of course, was that he could do nothing. In the end, he realised too little too late, that this was how it always would have ended._

_He realised that in his selfishness, he had ruined it all – how could he be satisfied with this?_

_Not just Yuusei he’d hurt, but Crow… Jack…._

_Jack._

_Carly-!_

_Irony. That was the thing, wasn’t it? If anyone was the traitor here, it was the one who had done what could not be undone. Could never be forgiven. And at the same time, he…_

_“Talk about lame…! This… this isn’t enough to satisfy me…”_

_Not that it mattered. Not that any of it mattered, when the world started to disappear._

…

As a part of Ramon’s group, Kiryu had a place to stay, a roof over his head, even if he didn’t always take advantage of it when he should.

The building was one of the few at the far end of the town that had windows that full on faced the mountain, even though it was hardly as though the place had a full population, and if he’d wanted, he could have taken anywhere else that’d had its previous owner carted off.

He didn’t care, though. Others might have been daunted by the sight looming above them, even more so than for anyone else in the town, but for him it was just another fact of the scenery.

People here lived. And then, when they could duel no longer, they died. It was simply the way of things.

He’d learned to make his own meals years ago – it was that or depend on someone else, when living in Satellite, and then it had become a habit once becoming a Dark Signer had taken him out of prison.

Now, the food tasted like nothing in his mouth.

Irony – that was it. Irony catching him out once again, in that while dead, he’d felt more alive, more in control, more grateful to eat, than when he had true air in his lungs and a true pulse in his heart.

The food was wasted on him, but the truth was that if he didn’t eat, then he wouldn’t be fit to duel, and if he made a simple mistake for a reason as small as that, then the duel would be sullied. He might as well have walked up to the mountain by his own two feet.

And that, he could not allow.

 _Your body is a temple_ , he’d heard the saying go – he’d laughed them off at the time, although he couldn’t remember when it was, or who had said it. He knew that he would laugh now.

He’d had enough of temples. Enough of gods. Enough of revenge. His body was a body, and nothing more.

And so if it was getting colder even during the daylight hours now, then he’d make sure he was warm. Cold fingers couldn’t draw cards.

Windows were closed in these winter months – apart from duel time, that is. Heat was stored as best as they were able, and heaters were bartered and betted for as prize commodities.

And if the kids found an extra blanket on their doorstep one day, then there were plenty that wouldn’t be missed. He wasn’t sure why he did it, but maybe it was how he knew that they could leave at any time, not held to the town’s rules. Only an impossible dream of freedom.

Maybe it was that, and some distant part of him recognised something of himself in them, the self that had died.

It was the middle of the day now, however, and the sun was continuing to beat its now feeble and bittersweet warmth down on them for a few hours yet. His path took him out of the town, feeling the wind on his face.

There was a chill in the air, though. One that came like a shiver up his spine, lifting the hairs on the back of his neck like an ill omen.

Perhaps the sun’s setting was counting down the hours and minutes that he had left until his loss, and he would end up in the very mountain that had been waiting for him, watching, all this time.

He couldn’t deny after all this time, that he had been, and still was, like a goose that had put its head in the mouth of the wolf. This town was the mouth. It was only a matter of time until it chose to use some duellist, if one ever came that could satisfy his duel, to use as the teeth that would close around his neck.

He wondered who it would be. No one in the town so far seemed to have the talent. None caught his interest, each just as desperate as the last, each with less skill than even the least that he could hope for.

Then again, perhaps that would change.

Perhaps someone new would come, and perhaps they would allow him, finally, to die – to die, without sullying the duel – and they would take what had belonged to him.

After all, a man looking for a place to die had no need for need for money, or belongings.

The only things that he would want untouched were his deck… and his D-wheel.

He let out a heavy breath. In an ideal world, he could only hope that the thing was left to gather dust, hope that its mechanics would eventually fail of old age and dust and the cold of the desert without any protection. But he knew that this likely would not happen – if left, it would be taken as a war trophy. By someone who knew nothing.

He knew that. He’d always known.

On the one hand, if that happened then perhaps it would circulate, or its parts be replaced, the memory files still in the CPU deleted to make way for its new owner, the past forgotten again. It would be given a new name.

Eventually, he supposed that this, too, would simply pass on, unrecognised by any who might have once cared, and one day worked to its death just like he one day should, if that was what the duel wished of him.

He could hear the town stilling, growing quiet, tense like a gun being loaded. Soon, it would be duel time.

Soon, the cards would call to him yet again, the duel holding him there, chaining him to life.

Soon, he would appear to them, a gun against his own head, with a single bullet in two barrels.

Either he would win again, to live another day, the shot to go to someone else. Or he would lose, and that would be the end of this long drawn out game of chance.

His skin still pricked with a feeling of being watched, being waited for, as he saw the setting sun turn the sky and the land both into gold.

Fitting, for a mining town, regardless that it wasn’t actually gold that they’d been looking for when they’d started the place up.

Now, however, was his time. He was due somewhere, and he couldn’t afford to be late.

…

Yuusei’d had odd looks from the last place he’d stopped at when he’d told them where he was headed, and it only served to deepen his already strong feelings on the matter –  he’d known then that whatever Kiryu had gotten himself into, it looked like it was his job to get him out, and get him home.

Now, several hours later, he was armed with the knowledge of exactly how bad things were.

People were being kept in this place against their will. Duellists, fighting to stay alive, pitted against each other. He would have called it the sick sort of entertainment the city dwellers would have enjoyed, if the divide had still been there, and strong enough – but things were getting better, slowly but surely, and even they wouldn’t endorse something so lethal, immediate effect or not.

 _People come here_ , the woman had said, showing him the spectacle beneath them unfold, _to find a place to die. Your Kiryu-san… is no different._

His teeth had clenched, and it would have been easy to mistake it for simple concern.

It was. He could tell that Kiryu held little of the duellist’s spirit he’d always known his friend to have. He could tell that there was something horribly, drastically wrong – and by that, he needed to get Kiryu out of this place, and fast, or else it would only get worse.

But that concern, that wasn’t all.

There was also _anger_. Anger at Kiryu, for so thoughtlessly endangering his life when there were people who needed him, even if there was no way Kiryu could know that, and for not letting them help, not staying long enough.

Anger at himself, for letting things get this far. For not going after him sooner.

Yuusei, in the present, closed his eyes. Knowing that that kind of thinking would get him – and more importantly, Kiryu – nowhere.

Besides, that hadn’t even been the biggest shock.

The group that Kiryu had been with, and the other, both rode traditional motorbikes – not powered by Momentum, old fashioned and called by many quaint and antique, although some people had started to retrofit them to run on Momentum the same way that any other non-duellist transport did.

Kiryu’s bike had stuck out like a sore thumb when Yuusei had seen him ride away. In the dim light there was left after sunset, everything had their colours muted regardless, but the shape of it, the silhouette, they were both things that he didn’t think he would ever be able to forget.

Dust and dirt aside, it was the exact same bike from when Kiryu had been a Dark Signer.

Ushio… he’d said back then that Kiryu had been seen with a D-wheel. Otherwise, they’d just call it an ordinary bike. Any duellist could ride a bike, but what separated the one from the other was if the bike was equipped to duel.

The one Yuusei had seen him with, though… why? Why _that_ one?

A D-wheel wasn’t easy to come by, and he knew that just as well – if not more than – most. But what he couldn’t understand was why Kiryu would choose to keep such a blatant reminder of that dark period… especially when it didn’t seem like he was about to go back to his old ways.

No matter how hard he tried, all of the reasons he came up with inside his own head seemed meaningless, trivial… petty, even.

He couldn’t understand.

What was more, Kiryu himself hadn’t stayed around long enough to explain. And he had a feeling that even if he tried to follow or find him in any other way, it would ultimately be like trying to catch tumbleweed in the wind.

The only way left then, was what had been given to him. The duel at sunset.

Which had left him facing off against three opponents, all using similar tactics that while he had to admit worked well in their favour as a team effort, still did nothing for their chances of victory.

He couldn’t say that he cared much for this Marco, or his group. But they were currently just a means to his end, and as soon as he’d done what he needed to do, he’d be leaving them and whatever cause they had, behind.

…

He didn’t know how he’d made it to Ramon’s place. His driving, after seeing Yuusei and hearing him call out must have been erratic at best.

The noises of the people seemed distant, far away, as though he wasn’t really here. The sensation of his heart, its beat thudding loudly in his ears, was the only thing that seemed real, and he was sure that if he held his hands out in front of him, picked up the glass that’d been set down, the others present would see him shaking.

Nerves gave rise to a tension all over, a tightening in his throat.

This wasn’t a fear of loss. Loss, when faced with Yuusei, was more than just a fifty-fifty chance. Besides – if it was Yuusei, it was fine, wasn’t it?

No, it wasn’t that kind of thing at all. If he was afraid of anything… anything at all any more… it was discovery.

 _Breathe_ , he told himself, _breathe. He hasn’t said anything yet._

If he’d been allowed to die in this place, quietly and without note to anyone, just disappear… that would have been enough. To atone, and pay for his sins.

The idea that anyone, even one person, would have let on that there’d been more between him and Carly than a simple teacher-student relationship at that time, if something had clued even one of them in…

It would only cause more pain, on top of what he’d already brought on. Especially for the ones it affected the most – Jack, whose trust he’d broken when he didn’t even care, and Carly herself, unable to remember, unable to so much as piece together when Jack, _Jack_ was the one she was in love with.

While at first nothing could have hurt more, he’d come to realise over time that being forgotten was for the best, really. He’d thought that without him there, they could get on with their lives, and the whole incident could be brushed over, swept aside.

If Yuusei were here now, all that might be for nothing. It would all come back up again, rising to haunt him and destroying everything like a strong wind through a house of cards.

 _Breathe. Jack isn’t here._ She _isn’t here. He might not know._

Maybe it was his brush with god, but he didn’t believe in coincidences much anymore, and especially not right now.

Or maybe that was the old paranoia setting back in again. That was always a possibility, too.

He shuddered, closing his eyes for a moment. No. That wasn’t it. He didn’t feel anywhere near as psychologically ill as he had back then, pushing everyone away and convinced that it was their fault and not his.

He knew precisely whose fault it was, this time. He knew who would, and should, end up taking the blame. It wasn’t anyone else, other than he himself.

He stood, barely noticing himself take the action. Ramon, in the middle of congratulating him, stared, nonplussed.

“I… might be defeated tomorrow.”

It was all the explanation he needed to give them. All the warning that they deserved from him. Although it could be said that something at least, was better than nothing.

Outside, his D-wheel was, as usual, sticking out like a sore thumb next to the more traditional bikes, both in size and design.

He kicked it into gear, helmet on, riding away. He’d walk back. His shoes had enough miles in them yet for that.

Maybe he could be granted this much. Perhaps even those without worth could be given small mercies.

…

“Jack, no! The _hell_ , man – you can’t just go charging off up there like that!”

“I can’t see why not! Yuusei did it!”

Crow snorted.

“Yuusei did it ain’t a good enough reason. Yuusei was stupid to go off like that too, but it doesn’t mean you should – besides, for all we know, he’s already got it all under control.”

Jack crossed his arms with a glare.

“Then why is it that he hasn’t called to tell us that himself?”

Crow could only shrug and roll his eyes, although he couldn’t help but admit that Jack had a _point_.

“Maybe because we ain’t kids anymore, and Yuusei doesn’t need you mother henning him! Anyone’d think _you_ were the one who was gonna end up with the kid!”

“Mng-! Why, you…! And you know damn well that if we don’t drag _that_ guy’s sorry backside back here, I might as well be!”

“And if he _does_ come back,” Crow said, sighing and moving aside and out of Jack’s grab area just in case, “what then? Ever thought of _that_? For all we know, he’s no good with this sort of thing, if he really was before!”

“So?!”

“So, _we don’t know what’s happening._ No one does. Even _Carly_ , y’know?”

Jack deflated and looked away, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the stairs.

“I don’t like it,” Crow found himself hear Jack say. “I… I want to believe in Kiryu too, like Yuusei does, but… how do I know if I can? He keeps… doing these things. He drove the team apart. And then, as a Dark Signer, he-” Crow knew – that Kiryu’d tried and nearly succeeded in killing Yuusei. It wasn’t something either of them could forget in a hurry. “And now this,” Jack finished quietly.

“I know. I _know_.”

There was a quiet after that, when neither of them really knew what to say and the silence was enough. Crow knew how hard it was for Jack to stop pretending he was invincible. Just because he’d never really got to know Carly before all this didn’t mean he hadn’t picked up on how important she was to him.

And all through this, while those thoughts were going through his head, a small part of Crow was just glad to know Jack had cast enough of his ‘King’ self aside and started remembering how to be just… Jack, again. The guy he’d grown up with.

“I just want her to be happy,” Jack said eventually. “If that means having Kiryu around again…”

Crow nodded, reaching up to wipe his forehead but accidentally getting grease all over his marker instead.

“Damn right.”

“Which is why I want to get going before we lose _even more time.”_

Crow rolled his eyes.

“Fine, fine! If we don’t hear back by tomorrow, we go after him. But if he tells us he’s fine and wants us to stay clear ‘cause he’s got it all handled, we stay clear. Okay?”

Jack huffed, nose in the air.

“Hmph. All handled or not, this Jack Atlas will make sure of how this goes for himself!”

And with that, the white coat flared out as Jack turned on his heel and went up the stairs to the outside world. He’d probably be back soon to worry some more and chew Crow’s ear off over some stupid thing in an hour or two, if that.

He had to admit, he was all too tempted to go along with Jack’s idea of ‘screw it, let’s go’ – in fact, he _would’ve_ , if it weren’t that with Yuusei gone he was the main source of their income for the next few days, shouldering both Blackbird Deliveries _and_ the repairs side, not to mention the house calls.

All that, and people were _still_ getting used to seeing a guy with a marker. Let alone one doing an honest job.

_C’mon, Yuusei. Talk to us. Tell us what’s happening._

They couldn’t help if they didn’t know anything about what was going on. Some part of him whispered about how Yuusei going it alone in the first place, regardless that Kiryu was already over there, gave him a bad feeling anyway. And if nothing else, Crow had learned to trust his gut instinct.

They were all on edge. All they’d need would be a sign, _something_ , and he was sure he’d be off like _bullets_.

…

The day had been long – warm in the sun, and frigidly cold when in even the slightest bit of shade. At least the buildings had some small amount of warmth trapped inside of them, and some, like the flower shop that the Barbara woman ran, had heaters. It wouldn’t have been good if he’d been able to come all this way only to not be able to hold his cards properly due to cold hands.

He waited, patiently, all the same. Listening for the sounds of the bikes, the duellists, the opening of windows as the townspeople came to watch… the clattering of hooves and wheels as the horse and cart came to stop in the middle of town, in wait for their next victim.

Tonight, however, Yuusei had decided that there would be none. Neither he nor Kiryu would go to the mountain – they’d go back. Go back to Neo Domino, together.

With everything that was at stake, he couldn’t afford for any other outcome.

Eventually, he heard Marco call for him. He stood, adjusted the poncho, and walked out of the shop and into the middle of town. Into duel time.

“Kiryu.”

This time, there’d been no music to herald his appearance, and try as he might Yuusei couldn’t see any sign of the demonic D-wheel his friend still had in his possession.

“As I thought… are you the opponent?”

“I came… to bring you back. Let’s go together, Kiryu!”

They had people waiting for them – for both of them – and any ideas of letting Kiryu be if he didn’t want to be disturbed were being stripped away by seeing what sort of state his friend had ended up in.

“We won’t be going back together.” Something irked him about the way Kiryu said it – the dullness of his eyes, the flatness of his words. “One of us will remain at the mountain.”

As though that were acceptable.

Then again, from the looks of things, Kiryu had been duelling like this for some time.  Even so-

“I won’t let that happen!”

Something in his voice must have reached across, because the words had a reaction. The first real reaction that he’d seen in all this time, rather than dull acceptance of events as they unfolded. He would have tried to use this, reach out further, but someone spoke before he could.

“Y-you’re the one who called our sensei back then… d’you _know_ that guy?”

Kiryu turned back to the one who’d spoken, not moving his stance, expression returning to neutral.

“Do you… think that I would lose on purpose?”

The other man – Yuusei had to assume that it was Ramon – made hasty denials, along with a reminder of what would happen to the loser. Unnecessary to all but Yuusei himself, really, he understood as the way of things by the people who actually lived there… and Kiryu himself, who had become one of them.

“You want to do this no matter what?”

It was a challenge, issued at Yuusei. But also an opportunity given, a chance to back down. Perhaps Kiryu thought that Marco’s group would just let it slide, and find someone else to duel in his stead. Perhaps there was simply a difference between those who picked fights, and those who he had nothing against.

Either way, it only served to add to the resolve in Yuusei’s heart.

“That’s right.”

He thought he saw Kiryu almost smile, but it was a faint ghost of the ones he’d seen before. This duel… maybe in the duel, he’d find that old Kiryu… and the one that had affected Carly so much.

“I understand.”

The sun touched the horizon, and the time to fight had begun.

…

It would… be fine if he won, wouldn’t it.

Just like any other time. The opponent might be Yuusei, but other than that, nothing changed. His old friend had offered himself up, knowing full well what awaited him should he lose, and there was no way out of this without forfeiting… a thing which he could not do.

And if that was the case, then a good fight was the least he could.

That, and… one more thing. One thing, he realised, as he activated the ‘Infernity Reflector’ trap, the wind blowing through not just the duel field, but out and beyond, to those gathered to watch.

Even if he redirected a bit of the duel energy, it wouldn’t kill him. But then… no matter who won, there would be one less stain on his already blemished soul.

It would still hurt. After all, a duel was pain. It was nothing more than a fight, and one where pain was inevitable.

From there on and beyond that, though… the duel would continue. Just like any.

Infernity Beetle was destroyed, and he couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re the same as always. You’re not just trying to win… through the duel, you’re trying to bring out my heart.” The soft expression, brought on by nostalgia, faded, settling back into the hard face he’d become more familiar with in recent times in the town. “I know.”

He knew Yuusei well enough to understand that much. It was what he’d always tried to do. An outstretched hand – and one that he’d slapped away before, until having no choice but to take it at the very end.

“Then-?!”

It was almost laughable – he still thought, even _now_ …

“Sorry, Yuusei. It won’t do any good. I… don’t care what happens.”

“What do you _mean_ , you don’t care?!”

His eyes narrowed.

“Being alive… or being dead.”

Yuusei being Yuusei, perhaps this – blunt, straight to the point – was the only way he’d understand. Yuusei didn’t care about the laws of the town. He wouldn’t. He’d only care about what he’d come for – Kiryu himself.

Perhaps if he could get Yuusei to understand that there was no point, then with his own loss, Yuusei would go home. To Jack, to Crow, to everyone waiting there for him.

They’d be sad, for a while. But they’d get over it – there was more to life than Satellite now. One less person with a stained soul wouldn’t do that much difference to the world.

“You were always…! Didn’t you always trust in the duel and fight with everything you had?! Kiryu!”

Still… still Yuusei couldn’t understand. The way life changed people. How far he’d come – how far they’d both come.

“But… unlike some, I happened to remember.”

_“Jack?! Wait, what – what’s going on? What am I doing here? What’s happening?”_

_“Carly-!”_

_“Who are all these people…?”_

“Myself, as a Dark Signer.”

_An existence – not a life, not really – of endless darkness, harsh and unforgiving. Hatred and revenge and pain constantly tearing at an already wounded soul._

_In that state, even the light was tainted._

“And you, Yuusei… the fight with you.”

_“Tremble! Tremble some more in fear! There’s more where that came from!”_

_The crash, the fall, laughing at it all._

He closed his eyes, if just for a moment. The memories had brought up other things again. The laughter. Crashes – multiple crashes, and falls. Laughing over it. Getting back up again.

But in the end, that only served to harden his heart further. The one good thing he’d taken, and it may as well have been stolen, the very act of it intended to hurt another in the end.

He clenched his fist, angered by his faltering heart.

“From a simple misunderstanding, I hated and betrayed you all. And because of that, I came back from death, even though you were my closest companions… my friends… I ended up hurting all of you.”

“But – Kiryu! In that last fight… couldn’t you tell?! It wasn’t just me who was trying to save you – it was all of us! Jack, and Crow too, as well as the others! Just because you’ve done horrible things, doesn’t mean we can’t still forgive you – that’s _our_ decision!”

“…Forgive me as much as you like, but the wound called ‘crime’ remained in me.”

He hardly noticed Yuusei’s fist that wasn’t holding onto his cards clench, as he went on to explain about how the duel no longer meant anything to him – how it had been tainted. He didn’t include all of the details as to why. Why should he? No matter the minutia, the result was still the same.

Duels were no longer satisfying.

Everything tied in to everything else.

Team Satisfaction and its downfall to Jack and Yuusei and Crow to becoming the kind of person who would willingly sacrifice countless souls, souls he may have at one point duelled, or talked to, or helped, to Carly.

“Kiryu!” Yuusei’s voice no longer sounded hurt, but angry – something he wondered was due to Yuusei thinking he wasn’t fighting seriously enough, but _that_ couldn’t be it, he’d just said that he couldn’t betray the duel either – and one hand was pointed at him, across the playing field. “If you say you’ve lost hope, then let me give some back to you! In this duel, I’ll show you your reasons to live! And afterwards, we’ll both go back home. And I’ll make you _see_.”

Something in Yuusei’s eyes burned as he spoke, giving the impression that he truly believed what he was saying. But then, wasn’t that always just so very Yuusei? Always believing in others, even when he shouldn’t…

He shook his head.

It wouldn’t work this time. On this last time… there was nothing left to be saved.

...

AN: Content is moving heavily into Crashtown arc territory now, as you can well see! It should be noted that a lot of dialogue from the latter part of this chapter and also from later chapters from this one will include lines taken directly from the subs, although given the AU, many may end up altered to fit the storyline.

Upon realising that ripping dialogue made him seem much worse than previous chapters painted him, I realised that to explain this it's good to remember that Crashtown's a place where... people basically go to die. In that kind of environment, hardly at all healthy, his mental state and pre-existing depression would be deteriorating rapidly. So, there you go.


End file.
